Nine Pregnant Women Diagnosed with Zika Virus

Since the January announcement, the question of whether Zika would affect the 2016 Olympics in Brazil has been at the forefront.

The International Olympic Committee said earlier this month that Rio de Janiero will be a “safe environment” for the summer games.

Mexico is one of 35 countries reporting cases of Zika, though none have been in Baja California.

Japan has confirmed its first Zika case in the latest outbreak of the virus that has flared up in Latin America.

Like West Nile virus, Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito.

Since August, the CDC has tested 257 pregnant women for Zika; eight were positive, and a state lab confirmed a ninth. Two other cases have been reported, one in July of 2015 just before the current microcephaly concern surfaced, and another in July 2014. These cases included both of the miscarriages, both of the terminations and the case of the infant with microcephaly, along with one of the pregnancies that is still continuing, the report said.

Severe brain defects were documented during an ultrasound and MRI scan at 20 weeks gestation in one of the cases in which the woman chose an abortion. The province did not release any details about the age, gender, medical status or location of the person, or exactly which country he or she may have traveled to. The CDC recommends pregnant women should consider postponing travel to affected areas.

As of February 17, CDC had received reports of nine pregnant travelers with laboratory-confirmed Zika virus disease; 10 additional reports of Zika virus disease among pregnant women are now under investigation. She is not pregnant.

Those destinations are among the 30 places now on the CDC’s travel alert.

The woman in San Diego County was not pregnant, officials said. Nor is it known yet whether a person needs to have symptoms in order to trigger the risk of birth defects.

So far the CDC has tested almost 300 pregnant women who suspected they have the virus.

Women who are trying to become pregnant should talk to their doctors before making the trip, the CDC advised. Officials also have made Zika a reportable disease.

The Oregon Health Authority has identified the first sexually-transmitted case of Zika in Oregon, officials said Friday. Using latex condoms every time reduces the risk of sexual transmission of many infections, including those caused by other viruses.

“We did not expect to see these brain abnormalities in this small case series of USA pregnant travelers”, noted the CDC’s Denise Jamieson in a conference call.