Puerto Rico has confirmed the first case of the birth defect microcephaly caused directly from a Zika virus infection.
The mother has yet to be identified but it has been reported that the baby’s birth defects were diagnosed eight months into the pregnancy, and that the baby has been born brain defects, hearing problems, and vision problems.
CDC deputy incident manager Dr. Francisco Alvarado-Ramy released a statement about the finding.
“It’s definitely very serious. It represents an enormous challenge from not only a family perspective … (but) the emotional burden, the financial burden.”
Based on the numbers of the Zika virus reported in general, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anticipate there being many more cases of babies born with similar birth defects in the coming months.
So far in Puerto Rico there have been 31,500 Zika cases reported, with 2,400 of those reported cased in pregnant women. As many as 15 percent of the women in Puerto Rico do not get medical treatment for their pregnancies within the first trimester, which only increases the chances of not catching a case of microcephaly. Six people have been killed by the disease, and 233 people have been hospitalized.
