The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned pregnant women to postpone travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing to avoid becoming infected with the virus.
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The child born in Hawaii is the only reported case of Zika in the U.S.
No cases have yet been confirmed of infections contracted in the United States, though the virus has quickly spread across South America and the Caribbean in recent weeks.
None of the cases were contracted in Florida.
The warning came last week after USA health officials confirmed three cases in Florida of the Zika virus – a mosquito-borne disease linked with an epidemic of birth defects in Brazil.
Apart from Colombia and Brazil, the following countries have also registered cases of this illness: Paraguay, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras as well as other nations in the Caribbean such as Barbados, French Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Martinique, Saint Martin and Suriname.
The two pregnant women, both Illinois residents, are being monitored by their doctors, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Common symptoms associated with the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and bloodshot eyes.
The truly scary part of Zika for expectant mothers who test positive for Zika is that there is no treatment for the virus.
While zika does not spread from person to person, mosquitoes could feed on returning travelers carrying the disease before transmitting it to others.
“The Brazilian Health Ministry is carrying out further investigations on the actual cause for the increase in microcephaly cases in childbirths including the possibility there might be a link to Zika virus infection”, he said in a statement here yesterday.
Pregnant women who traveled in areas where Zika is active but have no clinical symptoms should also be offered an ultrasound, and women whose fetus shows signs of microcephaly should also be offered amniocentesis. There is no vaccine to prevent either zika or chikungunya, though Brazil has dedicated funds to speeding up research to develop a zika vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines on Tuesday instructing healthcare providers how to care for pregnant women in the event of a Zika virus outbreak, The New York Times reported.
Usually the infection only causes a mild illness, if at all.
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“Zika virus is not now found in the United States”. The virus is spread by mosquito bites. These people had all recently returned from travels overseas, including Latin America, where the Zika virus is now exploding in Brazil.
