First sexually-transmitted case of Zika in France

France has detected its first sexually transmitted case of Zika in a woman whose partner had travelled to Brazil, the epicentre of an outbreak of the virus, a senior health official said on Saturday.

A pregnant woman from Los Angeles County is infected with Zika virus, marking the second confirmed case in the county, according to public health officials.

Speaking during a visit to Guyana, Marisol said the couple live near Paris, and that the woman is “doing well”.

Two cases of sexual transmissions of Zika from male travellers to their sexual partners have been confirmed in the United States in the last two weeks, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Similarly, the number of USA cases involving evidence of microcephaly or brain abnormalities “is greater than we would have expected”, said the CDC’s Dr. Denise Jamieson. Pregnant women, or women planning to become pregnant, are being advised to avoid the summer games, as well as other tropical climates where the virus may flourish. One woman gave birth to a infant with serious birth defects; two others delivered healthy infants.

TDH advises women who are pregnant or of childbearing age to especially understand the risk of contracting Zika virus disease, which has recently been suspected of association with microcephaly in newborns. But she says the painful symptoms she suffered won’t stop her from competing in the games in August. The other woman is still pregnant. Four out of five people who get Zika have no symptoms.

In Brazil, the incidence of microcephaly has increased markedly with the spread of Zika infections. Brazil said it has confirmed more than 580 cases of microcephaly, and considers majority to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Of the six women who tested positive for Zika during the first trimester, one pregnancy is ongoing.

Additionally, the Department of Health has issued a health advisory to local health departments, health care providers and hospitals to further coordinate Zika response efforts in New York State. Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly in babies.

Okanogan County Public Health officials are waiting for lab results on a few possible cases of the Zika virus.

The Wadsworth Center in Albany is already testing symptomatic New Yorkers who have recently traveled to affected areas but due to concerns regarding birth defects associated with Zika virus, DOH will expand testing to all symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant women with recent travel history.

A biologist displays Aedes mosquito cells inoculated with virus Zika in the laboratory of Biology from University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in Campinas, Brazil, February 11, 2016. As a pathogen sweeps by a hemisphere, Puerto Rico has turn America’s possess front line in a conflict opposite it – home to 3.5 million USA adults and with a pleasant landscape that is an ideal tact belligerent for a butterfly that spreads Zika, as good as a dengue and chikungunya already common here.