CDC reports cases of Zika among pregnant women

The Zika virus has caused at least two pregnant women in the United States to opt for abortions after being diagnosed, USA health officials reported on Friday.

In one small study published in CDC’s weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Zika virus infection during pregnancy was associated with a range of outcomes, including early pregnancy losses, microcephaly and apparently healthy infants. It comes as the CDC says nine pregnant women in the U.S. tested positive for the virus-and what’s more, two of them chose to have abortions. The results underscore the ongoing importance of the CDC’s initial guidelines to avoid traveling to countries infected by Zika when pregnant and that pregnant women who are in these countries should avoid mosquito bites.

One, a woman in Hawaii, gave birth to a baby with severe microcephaly. If people do get sick, their symptoms are usually mild and may include fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis, commonly known as pink eye.

“There is the potential for hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika in Puerto Rico and unfortunately, tragically, affected pregnancies as well”, Frieden said.

The woman traveled to a Zika-affected area and returned infected. The CDC is also investigating ten other possible cases. “In all events for which information is available, travelers were men and reported symptom onset was within two weeks before the non-traveling female partner’s symptoms [of Zika infection] began”, the agency said. OR public health officials reported a new sexually-transmitted case in a woman on Friday morning.

Scientists are working to confirm that the virus causes microcephaly, which has not been reported in other nations that have recently reported elevated Zika activity.

Public health emergencies have been declared in eleven counties: Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Hillsborough, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola, Santa Rosa, Seminole and St. Johns – all where cases have been identified. The link still isn’t causal, of course, but two women who showed symptoms during their second and third trimesters have given birth to seemingly healthy children. A blood test confirmed she had Zika. They are recommended to either use condoms, every time, or do not have sex during pregnancy.

“This is a test that was developed over years in the CDC laboratory and in over a question of just weeks we’ve been able to scale up production”, Frieden said, adding while the test is not yet widely available, it is a step forward.

The unidentified women recently traveled to the Caribbean or South America, where the mosquito-borne virus has been spreading.