There have been 107 cases of Zika virus among U.S. travellers
returning from Zika-infected areas, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention said Friday.
The CDC also reported 40 locally acquired cases of the virus
in U.S. territories. Thirty-five are in Puerto Rico, four are in American
Samoa, and one is in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Not included in that count are an additional 117 diagnosed
cases of the virus in Puerto Rico that were reported to the CDC after they totalled
the above numbers.
CDC
Director Dr. Tom Frieden said Puerto Rico is clearly the most affected
area, with the potential for hundreds of thousands of cases of the virus.
The agency also said pregnant women should consider not
travelling to the Summer Olympics in Brazil, calling the situation with
the virus there "dynamic." This is in line with existing
recommendations for pregnant women to postpone travel to areas where the virus
is being transmitted.
There are nine cases of the Zika virus among pregnant women
in the United States who have returned from travel to Zika-infected areas, the
CDC said. The agency is investigating 10 more reports of the virus in pregnant
women who have returned from infected destinations.
Of the nine confirmed cases, all the women experienced at
least one of the four most common symptoms of the virus: fever, rash, red eyes
(or conjunctivitis), and joint pain. Most of the women reported having a rash
and most had two symptoms. None of the women were hospitalized.
Six of the women reported their symptoms during the first
trimester of their pregnancy. Two women had miscarriages.
"It's important to note that 10-20% of all pregnancies
end in a spontaneous miscarriage, so the fact that (Zika is) present doesn't
necessarily mean that it caused them. However, its presence in the placenta is
certainly suggestive that it may have,"