CDC Confirms 9 U.S. Pregnancies With Zika, Investigates 10 Others

The one pregnant woman who experienced Zika symptoms during her third trimester later delivered a healthy infant. The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to the development of several pregnancy complications and birth defect development in babies.

The nine women reported to have the illness were infected after visiting or living in places with Zika outbreaks including Puerto Rico, Mexico and Brazil. Health authorities have urged people traveling to or living in the more than 20 affected areas of Latin America and the Caribbean to avoid mosquito bites if possible, and to choose abstinence or use condoms regularly to avoid passing the virus to a partner.

An Argentine woman has contracted Zika without having left the country, suggesting the virus was sexually transmitted, a health official in Cordoba province said on Friday, bringing to nine the number of cases reported nationwide, APA reports quoting Reuters. In two cases, the babies are okay, but two women had miscarriages, two others chose to terminate their pregnancies and one baby was born with a small head and small brain.

Right now, the CDC is investigating an additional 10 cases of pregnant women who may have the virus.

Since August, the CDC said it has tested 257 pregnant women for Zika; eight were positive and a state lab confirmed a ninth.

On the conference call, the CDC said it has developed a diagnostic test that it plans to distribute to US public health laboratories to speed the diagnosis of Zika, which now takes about a week.

But it has said that effective control of mosquitoes is the most important means of stopping transmission.

There is no vaccine to prevent Zika virus disease and no specific medical treatment for people who are infected.

In a tweet Friday afternoon, the CDC advised pregnant women to postpone travel to areas with Zika. Four pregnancies ended in miscarriage or abortion, one baby was born with severe brain defects and two women are still pregnant with apparently healthy babies.

CDC’s statement is the agency’s first explicit warning for some travellers to stay away from the Games in Rio de Janeiro, which has been expecting to draw as many as 400,000 tourists from around the world.

The FDA granted emergency use of a new CDC test for the Zika virus. In some cases, women in affected countries have been told to consider putting off pregnancy.

It is not yet clear that Zika virus actually causes microcephaly in babies, but experts say the evidence of a link is growing.

So far, 107 travel-related Zika infections have been diagnosed in 24 states and the District of Columbia, including the pregnant woman.