Mexico says 6 pregnant women infected with Zika

In this Jan. 29, 2016 photo, Tainara Lourenco smiles as she chats with neighbors from the entrance of home at a slum in Recife, Brazil. Unemployed and five months pregnant, 21-year-old Lourenco lives in a slum at the epicenter of Brazil’s tandem Zika and microcephaly outbreaks, the state of Pernambuco. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

MEXICO CITY – Mexico has confirmed six pregnant women are infected with the Zika virus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 80, the government said.

They are believed to be the first confirmed cases of Zika in pregnant women in Mexico.

More than half of the total cases of Zika and four of the infected women were detected in the poor southern state of Chiapas, a report from the health ministry said late on Monday.

Pope Francis visited Chiapas on Monday, drawing crowds of thousands.

One of the other infected pregnant women is from the southwestern state of Oaxaca, while another is from the eastern state of Veracruz.