Brain-damaged Hawaii baby first in USA tied to Zika virus

A baby born with brain damage at a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, was infected by the Zika virus, USA health officials said Saturday.

The Hawaii State Department of Health said the child’s mother was living in Brazil in May and probably was infected by a mosquito bite then, early in her pregnancy.

Hawaiian health officials say that the baby’s infection did not originate in the state, but rather, the pregnant woman traveled from Brazil likely already infected with the disease, according to the release. It’s the state’s first known case of the mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked to serious birth defects in thousands of babies born recently in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America.

The virus presumably reached the embryo and damaged its developing brain.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control quickly warned pregnant women to avoid travel to 14 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America due to the spread of virus Friday.

A Brazilian woman bathes her son in this December 23, 2015 file photo. “Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious, and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii”, the health department said.

The pattern of dengue fever in Hawaii is concerning, however, because according to The New York Times, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control “recently predicted that Zika would follow the same pattern that dengue has, with local transmission during hot weather in tropical parts of the country, including Florida, the Gulf Coast and Hawaii”.

The countries and territories that are included in the CDC alert are Venezuela, Brazil, the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Colombia, Suriname, El Salvador, Paraguay, French Guiana, Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Martinique, Honduras, and Haiti.

It also advises women who are trying to become pregnant to consult a doctor before travelling to those areas.

Nevertheless, Hawaii is undergoing an outbreak of dengue fever, and the same mosquitoes that transmit it also can transmit Zika.

Brazil has discovered cases of microcephaly in 20 of its 27 states, notably in Pernambuco, where therewere 1,031 reported cases and three deaths from the condition in 2015.

“In this situation, an astute Hawaii physician recognized the possible role of Zika virus infection, immediately notified the Department of Health, and worked with us to confirm the suspected diagnosis”.

It said that 26 cases of Zika infection have been diagnosed in the United States since 2007 among people who contracted the disease outside the country.

We’re familiar with mosquitoes carrying West Nile but now, another virus, known as Zika, is gaining traction. It’s a cousin of dengue virus but only causes symptoms in about one in four or one in five people.