CDC: 3 babies born in US with birth defects caused by Zika

The Zika virus has been tied to birth defects in the babies and fetuses of six women in the US who were infected during their pregnancies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

Three babies have been born in the United States with birth defects linked to likely Zika virus infections in the mothers during pregnancy, along with three cases of lost pregnancies linked to Zika, federal health officials said on Thursday. The disease has been linked to microcephaly and other birth defects in offspring, though it’s not clear why Zika affects some fetuses and not others.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking the pregnancies of women with Zika infections since the beginning of the year.

Of 1,850 Zika-infected pregnant women the authors tracked, about a third caught the virus late in pregnancy, during the third trimester.

Pregnant women, or women who could become pregnant, are being advised to stay away from areas where Zika is spreading, the CDC said.

The findings, part of the first comprehensive look at the Zika outbreak in Colombia, one of the countries hardest hit by the mosquito-borne virus, add to the growing body of evidence about the potentially devastating consequences of Zika.

❯❯ Click the Icon below to share this post……

Previously, only cases of pregnant women who had Zika-related symptoms or pregnancy complications were being tallied, CDC officials said.

Of the 600 women infected during their third trimester, 90 per cent have delivered their babies, and none gave birth to a child with microcephaly or other obvious birth defects, researchers found. The common symptoms are rash, joint pain, fever or red eyes.

The patients had traveled to a region with ongoing Zika transmission and sought medical care in Louisiana after, where tests confirmed the viral infection. Honein said the infants in Colombia need to be watched for other potential effects of Zika infection, such as hearing loss or vision problems, or any other developmental problems.

A baby girl with birth defects, including microcephaly, was born two weeks ago in New Jersey to a woman from Honduras who had been infected with Zika.

The virus is spread mainly through the bite of a tropical mosquito called Aedes aegypti. As of June 15, the CDC has had 756 cases of Zika infection reported to the agency. One case involved laboratory exposure, while the rest were the result of travel to an outbreak area or sex with an infected traveler. Such birth defects have been documented in Brazil, Colombia and other countries as well as Puerto Rico.