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 The baby girl is suffering from severe microcephaly, a birth defect
marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental
problems, after she was delivered through cesarean section at
Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, the
news website NorthJersey.com reported.
U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in
pregnant women can cause microcephaly. The World Health Organization
has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also
cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes
temporary paralysis in adults.
The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light
last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,300 cases
of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections
in the mothers.
The unidentified premature newborn also suffers from intestinal and
visual issues, Manny Alvarez, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at
Hackensack, told NorthJersey.com.
"You could see the pain in her heart," Alvarez said of the mother,
the website reported.
Hospital officials were not available for comment.
The unidentified 31-year-old mother was staying with relatives after
she arrived in the United States more than a month ago from
Honduras, where she was bitten by a mosquito, Alvarez said.
Zika is carried by mosquitoes, which transmit the virus to humans. A
small number of cases of sexual transmission have been reported in
the United States and elsewhere. A case of suspected transmission
through a blood transfusion in Brazil has raised questions about
other ways that Zika may spread.
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In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
that a U.S. woman who had lived in Brazil gave birth to a
microcephalic baby in Hawaii.
The Zika outbreak is affecting large parts of Latin America and the
Caribbean, with Brazil the hardest hit.
Honduras is the Central American country with the highest number of
Zika cases, with 19,000 infections, and at least 238 pregnant women
infected. It has also detected at least 78 Guillain-Barre cases.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin
of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes.
An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making
it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been
infected.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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