The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it is monitoring 279 pregnant women with likely Zika virus infections across U.S. states and territories. The largest number of cases by far are in Puerto Rico, where officials are keeping tabs on 122 pregnant women. But they also are tracking 157 other pregnant women across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it is monitoring 279 pregnant women with likely Zika virus infections across U.S. states and territories. The largest number of cases by far are in Puerto Rico, where officials are keeping tabs on 122 pregnant women. But they also are tracking 157 other pregnant women across the country.
CDC has concluded that there is little doubt the mosquito-borne virus can cause pregnancy complications and severe fetal abnormalities, as well as some neurological problems in adults. The most pronounced in utero is microcephaly, a rare condition marked by an abnormally small head and a lack of brain development. Hundreds of babies with that devastating condition already have been born in countries such as Columbia and Brazil, where the current Zika outbreak began last year.
President Obama is scheduled to receive an Oval Office briefing late Friday morning about the country’s Zika planning from CDC director Tom Frieden, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Source: The Washington Post