Two more travel-related Zika cases in Arizona

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it is monitoring 279 pregnant women with likely Zika virus infections across USA states and territories. The turnaround time is usually around five days to a week but most times by the time we get the result, the persons are in fact asymptomatic.

While the majority of pregnant women the CDC is monitoring were infected with Zika while they traveled, the agency says some of these women were infected via sexual transmission.

The United States plans a major overhaul of the way packaged foods are labeled, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday.

US health officials have determined that the mosquito-borne virus, which can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person, can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by unusually small head size, and can lead to severe brain abnormalities and developmental problems in babies.

That's why the agency is increasing its monitoring to include not just pregnant women with lab-confirmed Zika virus who have symptoms, but Zika-positive pregnant women with no symptoms.

Researchers say the new system will create a better understanding of the range of problems the virus inflicts in utero. To date, three people in Arizona have been infected with Zika.

Common symptoms of Zika virus include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes), but not everyone experiences symptoms.

"Our goal is to track all Zika-affected pregnancies", said Honein.

"We want to be able to feel safe and secure, and families who are of child-bearing years want to feel as if they can have confidence that, when they travel, when they want to start a family, that this is not an issue".

Global health agencies have already been reporting Zika infections in women exclusively on the basis of lab tests. Up to 20 percent of the island's 3.5 million people are expected to contract the virus, health officials have said.

There have been around 1,300 confirmed cases of microcephaly - babies born with small brains - in Brazil, with thousands more under investigation.

President Obama has requested almost $2 billion from Congress to gird for an outbreak in late spring or summer, though GOP leaders balked at the figure.

The agency previously only reported numbers of pregnant women who had symptoms.

Garland officials do not believe there is any risk to others in the area because the women didn't return to Garland until after the phase of the disease when they were capable of transmitting the virus to mosquitoes.

So far there have been no cases of local transmission of Zika on the US mainland. One woman gave birth to an infant with serious birth defects, while two others delivered healthy infants.

Source: Two more travel-related Zika cases in Arizona