Zika virus – 7 U.S. babies have now been born with birth defects

According to Medpage Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have announced that three more babies with birth defects linked to the Zika virus have been born in the U.S., bringing the total to seven. The figures, which include serious brain abnormalities such as microcephaly, are in addition to five lost pregnancies due to stillbirth, miscarriage or termination.

The CDC has created a U.S. Zika pregnancy registry that compiles pregnancies with poor outcomes that have laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection. The CDC is also monitoring 265 pregnant women who show laboratory evidence of Zika infection.

Zika has been related to an alarming increase in cases of fetal brain abnormalities in the U.S. Brazil has been hardest hit, with more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly in babies with mothers who had been infected with Zika during pregnancy.

The U.S. has reported over 900 Zika cases, so far all involving people who contracted the virus while outside the U.S., or who were infected through unprotected sex with a partner who was infected. So far there have been no cases of local transmission of Zika in the U.S., but health experts expect that to change with the onset of mosquito season.

Figures from the CDC registry of pregnancy outcomes are current as of June 23. The agency plans to issue updated reports each Thursday.