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CDC: Up to 157 Pregnant Women in the U.S. Have Zika
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring 157 pregnant women [washingtonpost.com] in the United States who may be infected with the Zika virus. It is also monitoring 122 such pregnant women in Puerto Rico. The new federal guidelines and counts include women who may not show symptoms of the virus. For example, of the 157 women in the U.S. and D.C., 88% reported rash, 49% arthralgia, 51% fever, and just 23% reported conjunctivitis. Zika virus nucleic acid detection was only reported in 25%.
From the report [cdc.gov]:
Case reports indicate that fetuses and infants of pregnant women with asymptomatic Zika virus infection might be at risk for microcephaly and other severe brain defects. Following pregnant women with laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection in the surveillance system, regardless of symptoms, allows better characterization of the full impact and consequences of infection to the mother and her offspring, and might allow for better stratification of risk for adverse congenital outcomes.
[...] The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, data provided to the jurisdictions and CDC regarding symptoms and symptom onset might not be accurate or complete because of variability in recall by patients or data available to jurisdictions. Second, only pregnant women who are tested for Zika virus infection are included, thereby potentially underestimating the prevalence of infection and outcomes among all pregnant women. Finally, all states are not included in the [U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry (USZPR)], possibly affecting the representativeness of these data with regard to all pregnant women identified with a possible Zika virus infection.
The Miami Herald notes [miamiherald.com] that 36 of the 157 are in Florida, quadruple the number under the old guidelines.
Future reports will include details about the outcomes of these pregnancies. The CDC will also begin posting weekly updates on the number of Zika-related pregnancy cases it is monitoring.
