3 pregnant women test positive for Zika in Florida

The case, reported Thursday in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, provides the first evidence that Zika can cause damage to tissues outside of the central nervous system in a fetus, researchers say. The message from health officials: Please don’t freak out. None of the individuals who traveled to the country are pregnant.

On February 3, Gov. Scott declared a health emergency in Hillsborough and three other counties where residents have been diagnosed with the virus. Currently, that includes 11 counties in the state.

Doctors recommend that women in any stage of pregnancy avoid traveling to places affected by the Zika outbreak, such as Brazil, Temes said. “We’re going to find a few cases”.

But health officials worldwide are alarmed by a suspected link between the virus and microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with undersized heads and can lead to severe developmental and intellectual problems.

The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is advising women living in areas that are affected by the Zika virus to continue to breastfeed their babies.

In four other cases, preliminary tests indicate women had been infected but confirmatory tests are pending.

The reports suggest sexual transmission may be a more likely means of spreading Zika than previously considered, the CDC said.

He was confirmed as having the virus on Wednesday, two days after he presented to his doctor for testing.

“I think this is an important report, and what it most probably speaks to is the impact of an earlier infection with Zika on a pregnancy”, Neil Silverman of the Center for Fetal Medicine and Women’s Ultrasound in Los Angeles told BuzzFeed News.

The United States Olympic Committee has said people concerned for their health should consider not attending the Games.

Dr Bennett was unable to confirm whether the man, reportedly a FIFO worker, had left the country but said he would no longer have the virus in his blood. The virus isn’t airborne.

Because of the suspected link to microcephaly, extra precautions are being advised for pregnant women.

There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.

Albert Ko, an epidemiologist at Yale University and leader of the investigating team, said the case served as “an alert to clinicians” that the virus may affect not only the eyes and central nervous systems of unborn babies, but may also cause risky swelling and death in the womb.

There’s a lot of news out there about the Zika virus, and it seems Americans are paying close attention.

It’s the eighth documented case in Brazil of miscarried fetuses or infants with microcephaly who died shortly after birth and had Zika virus in their brains. But the current outbreak, which started in Brazil in April last year, spread rapidly, with the first cases reaching Europe in January this year.