Avoid Brazil Olympics because of Zika, US officials caution pregnant women

A study of nine pregnant women from the United States who traveled to countries where the Zika virus was circulating shows a greater-than-expected number of fetal infections and brain abnormalities, US health officials said on Friday. The other 40 are mostly locally acquired infections in U.S. Territories. Thirty-five are in Puerto Rico, four are in American Samoa, and one is in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“As of today, 147 cases have been reported to CDC”.

Olympic organisers in Rio say they are following World Health Organization recommendations.

“Zika virus is only actually transmitted by the infected bite of a mosquito, or sexual contact”.

The advice was released the same day that the CDC confirmed nine cases of pregnant women with Zika in the USA, and is investigating 10 more. Details were not provided for the second case.

The Zika virus is spread mainly by mosquito bites and causes mild illness or no symptoms in most people.

The only two previously known cases of Zika in San Diego came in 2014 and 2015 and involved people who had traveled to areas afflicted by outbreaks. None of the women was hospitalized.

It appears that pregnant women in their first trimester are the most vulnerable. Two women had miscarriages. But he cautioned that 10 percent to 20 percent of all pregnancies end up in miscarriage, so it was not certain that Zika was to blame.

Two women chose to terminate their pregnancies.

Microcephaly is a condition in which babies are born with small heads and sometimes damaged brains. In January, a CDC spokesman confirmed that a US woman who had lived in Brazil gave birth to a microcephalic baby in Hawaii.

“We want to be cautious because it’s a small group of women, but from what I saw, it is suggestive that the effects look to be more severe in the early part of pregnancy”, said Beigi, an obstetrician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The remaining two women in the United States are still pregnant, and according to fetal tests, are carrying healthy babies. No Zika virus-related hospitalizations or deaths among pregnant women were reported.

One pregnant woman experienced the virus during her third trimester and delivered a seemingly healthy baby.

The Zika virus has been linked to microcephaly in babies when mothers were infected with the virus, which otherwise causes cold-like symptoms.

The Zika virus, once seen as a problem far away, is now affecting women in the US.

The screens, one measure Brazilians are using to help ward off the mosquito that is the primary transmitter of Zika, will be installed in communal areas “where required” but only affixed to lodging if national delegations decide to pay for it, said Philip Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Rio 2016 organising committee.