Pregnant Australian woman tests positive for Zika virus

However, experts have cautioned that this association is still presumptive because definitive serologic testing for Zika virus was not available in Brazil at the time of the outbreak and confusion may occur with other causes of microcephaly.

The infected Chinese man had travelled to Venezuela and showed symptoms including a fever, headache and dizziness on Jan 28, Xinhua said. Common symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eye).

Gwen and Scott Hartley describe what it’s like to raise two daughters with microcephaly, a condition in the spotlight because of the Zika virus.

But WHO was also somewhat reassuring, declaring: ‘Most women in Zika-affected areas will give birth to normal infants’. “This is not a locally acquired case of the virus”.

Health officials said Wednesday at least one person is confirmed to have the Zika Virus in Oregon. Meanwhile, public health officials in the United States are bracing for original cases of Zika to appear, as the Aedes aegypti- the primary vector of Zika, a day-biting mosquito- already inhabits Gulf Coast states.

“Prevention of mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission is the same as prevention of any other mosquito-borne diseases”, DiOrio said.

Health authorities have said they expect more people to be diagnosed with Zika virus as further detection systems are rolled out.

The unidentified Yolo County resident who tested positive for the virus had recently traveled out of the country and only has a mild case of the virus, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the CDC.

Currently, there are 16 confirmed cases of Zika infection across seven counties in Florida, including six in Miami-Dade and two in Broward.

Brazil has been hardest hit by the outbreak with more than 20,000 cases, including over 2,000 pregnant women. “The problem comes when you are pregnant and get the infection while you are pregnant, particularly in the first or second trimester”.

The defect causes babies to be born with small skulls and incomplete brain development.