All three are not pregnant, health officials said, preventing them from being at risk for microcephaly-a birth defect characterized by a small head size and linked to the Zika virus.
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Brazil has confirmed more than 580 cases of microcephaly and is investigating more than 4,100 suspected cases.
But the discovery of hydrops fetalis was unexpected.
The virus represents little threat to the public because mosquitoes that carry the virus are not found in ME and “your neighbor who has come home from a trip to South America can not transmit the virus to you”, said Dr. Siiri Bennett, state epidemiologist. Earlier in the month, he activated a Zika Virus Information Hotline that has assisted 727 callers since it launched.
The researchers describe a 20-year-old Brazilian woman who showed no signs of Zika infection or other related viruses, such as dengue and or chikungunya.
In the paper, the researchers point out that this patient didn’t even know she had Zika-only about one in four people infected are symptomatic-so it could be that this association has already emerged, but we’ve missed it because we didn’t know what to look for. At 32 weeks, the foetus had died and doctors induced labour.
That changed abruptly in the 18th week when an ultrasound scan revealed that the unborn baby’s weight was well below what it should have been.
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A ME resident tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling to a country that’s dealing with an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus, representing the first case of a traveler from the state contracting the virus, officials said Thursday. The findings don’t prove Zika caused the defects, but the researchers said closer investigation of stillbirths in Zika-affected areas may be warranted. Subsequent testing detected the Zika virus’ genetic material in brain tissue and amniotic fluid.
