CDC: Zika infections confirmed in 9 pregnant women in US

– Today the CDC released information about nine pregnant travelers, now in the US, with confirmed cases of Zika virus. Numerous women reported fevers as a result of the infection, which may have affected their pregnancy outcomes, the agency says. Back home in IL, she became ill and tested positive for the Zika virus.

Also on Friday, the CDC issued a caution to people planning to attend the Olympics this summer in Rio de Janeiro. But the potential in Puerto Rico for those statistics to worsen is staggering: the CDC reports that there remains the chance for hundreds of thousands of Zika cases – and, therefore, countless affected pregnancies – in Puerto Rico alone.

However, a rash of cases in which babies born in South America with microcephaly, a condition where babies’ heads and brains are smaller than normal, was connected to mothers who got sick from Zika while pregnant. The mosquitoes that spread Zika breed in standing water and often lay eggs in containers, such as flower pots. And unlike the United States, abortion isn’t an option for pregnant women who contract the virus.

Details of these cases were published online in the CDC’s MMWR journal on Friday. Two pregnancies are continuing without reported complications.

One of the women who chose to terminate her pregnancy had undergone a sonogram at 20 weeks that showed brain abnormalities in the fetus.

According to the CDC, all nine women reported some of the commonly observed symptoms of the virus.

Later Friday, the CDC recommended that pregnant women consider not going to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

The CDC said all are US residents, but it declined to answer a question on their citizenship. “We understand that the occurrence of fetal malformation, fetal loss or miscarriage, or a child with a birth defect, is something that can be devastating to a family”.

It’s unclear how long a male who was formerly infected with Zika can sexually transmit the virus to a female.

Current antibody tests used by the CDC face significant accuracy problems, says Dr. Moore.

Men who live in or travel to areas where Zika is spreading are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms consistently and properly.

“We know that, at least while men are symptomatic, they can spread Zika to their sexual partners”, Frieden said. “The Virginia Department of Health’s mission to prevent the spread of infectious diseases makes it well-suited to lead this multi-agency task force”. A link between Zika and a type of paralysis that can last weeks to months called Guillain Barré syndrome is also being investigated. Two cases have been confirmed, four more are probable and two have been dropped, the report said.

The Aedes mosquito that carries the Zika virus is not present in Canada at all. No instances of direct transmission via mosquito have yet taken place in the United States.