CDC: Zika infections confirmed in 9 pregnant women in US
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2016 file photo, Daniele da Silva, who is seven months pregnant, poses for a photo as she sits inside her home in a slum of Recife, Brazil. Da Silva said she had Chikungunya a couple of months ago and her ultrasound scan and other exams of her baby are normal. In Zika-struck Brazil, a debate over whether to loosen the countrys strict abortion laws has sparked a backlash from the mothers of children with birth defects. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
The government says Zika infections have been confirmed in nine pregnant women in the United States.
All got the virus overseas. Three babies have been born, one with a brain defect.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it is also investigating 10 additional reports of pregnant travelers with Zika.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Zika virus — spread mainly by mosquito bites — is epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean. The virus causes mild illness or no symptoms in most people. But in Brazil, officials are investigating a possible link to babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads.
Of the U.S. pregnancies, two ended in miscarriages and two in abortions. Two pregnancies are continuing without reported complications.
- Zika infection may cause stillbirth, loss of brain tissue, report suggests
- UN advises women in Zika-afflicted countries to breastfeed babies
- More than 5,000 pregnant women in Colombia have Zika virus: government
- Brazil reports increase in microcephaly cases linked to Zika
- CDC detects Zika in tissue of Brazilian babies who died of microcephaly, finds strongest link yet