Two American women have had miscarriages after being infected with the Zika virus while traveling overseas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday.
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A Yolo County resident who recently traveled outside of the United States has tested positive for the Zika virus, county officials said Wednesday. Although the two suspected cases in Louisiana are outside of this one-week window, officials have counseled both patients to protect themselves from mosquito bites. The virus is transmitted mainly through mosquito bites.
Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro confirmed the findings at a press conference, while announcing that a new partnership with scientists at the University of Texas could lead to laboratory development of a vaccine within a year.
The microcephaly cases have been centred in north-east Brazil, but the Zika outbreak has affected people in more than 20 countries in the Americas.
Carried by mosquitoes, the virus is particularly harmful to pregnant women, who can pass it onto their babies.
Zika symptoms, which include fever, rash, joint pain and redness of the eyes, are mild, and serious illness requiring hospitalization is uncommon.
If someone is actively infected, the CDC has a test that diagnoses Zika fairly well.
In a statement, the agency noted that the virus was not spread by person-to-person contact, “though a small number of cases of sexual transmission have been documented”. “It makes sense for women who are pregnant to think about whether they really need to travel to an area where this is circulating”.
“We are dealing with these cases all the time, it very much depends on where the woman has been, what the woman has done, has she gone to an area of high transmission where there have been lots of cases reported?“.
Earlier this week, a pregnant woman in Queensland state was also diagnosed with Zika after traveling overseas.
Last month, officials said a baby born in a Hawaii hospital was the first in the country with a birth defect linked to Zika.
Frieden and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared before the panel to lobby for President Barack Obama’s request for $1.8 billion in emergency funds from Congress to combat the threat of Zika virus. Those patients, two women and one man, were tested due to their unusual set of symptoms and recent travel to Polynesia.
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“I know that the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil is of concern to many of you”, Blackmun wrote. Increasing evidence in Brazil also is linking Zika to microcephaly and other suspected neurological complications.
