The America and its territories have been reported significant rise in cases of pregnant women with Zika virus. This is according to the latest report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new report states that the virus affects 279 women in May from America and Puerto Rico. Some got the virus from mosquito bites; others contracted it through sexual contact.
This is far from the reported cases of 48 back in April. Back then, the agency told the public of cases by pregnant women who are tested positive and showed Zika fever symptoms.
The new numbers already include the number of pregnant women who have displayed no virus symptoms but are positive in laboratory tests of possible exposure. Releasing this information is needed in order to get a more conclusive and wide understanding of the range of problems caused by the virus in a pregnant woman's belly.
Margaret Honein, CDC's birth defects branch chief and Pregnancy and Birth Defects Team co-lead says, "Our goal is to track all Zika-affected pregnancies. We want to be transparent about the numbers of affected women."
Four in five affected adults do not show symptoms. Those with symptoms suffer rash, swelling joints, fever and possibly conjunctivitis, which last from one week to ten days. Even if the symptoms go away, the virus will still be living in the victim's blood and semen.
Zika virus causes mild to sever dengue fever. It is generally manageable by adults but a big problem if passed on by a pregnant mother to her child. The first virus was first reported in the Zika Forest of Uganda. It was reported to be spread by Aedes mosquitos to humans. Since the virus outbreak, the American government discouraged pregnant women to travel to Zika-affected places. As of now, there are still more unknown risks of contracting the virus.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
