CDC Says 2 American Women Suffered Miscarriages Due To Zika Virus

Zika virus, which is spread by infected mosquitos, has been appearing around the continental United States, mostly in travelers who have visited a Zika-affected area. Wadsworth is one of only three state laboratories in the country equipped to perform the screening and confirmatory tests of Zika antibodies and other related viruses. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met with members of the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil Feb. 10 in Brasilia to ask for their help in fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the Zika virus.

The Zika virus is now found in Mexico, throughout the Caribbean, and in South America except for Chile.

Symptoms are generally mild – fever, rash, joint pain, and pink eye – but the virus also has been linked to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with unusually small heads and often have smaller brains that might not develop normally.

Health officials said the patient has fully recovered since the case was reported in the past week.

A county resident tested positive for the virus, the Putnam County Department of Health said on Friday in a released statement. Earlier this week, USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky issued a statement denying a Reuters report that American Olympic leaders told sports federation chiefs on a conference call last month that anyone who was concerned about safety issues in Rio shouldn’t make the trip.

The CDC is urging pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant not to travel to Zika-affected areas.

Dr. Thomas Frieden testified before Congress, saying the USA needs to prepare for thousands more cases.

“We think that this really represents the most compelling evidence to date that congential CNS (central nervous system) malformations are associated with Zika virus”, Tatjana Avsic Zupanc, senior study author, told STAT. Duncan acknowledged that “many women do not have the luxury of simply choosing to wait” to get pregnant, but added that abortion access is not the answer, because many babies born with microcephaly “go on to lead very normal lives”. “Zika virus infection is actually similar to the other tropical infections dengue which is also transmitted by mosquitoes”.