New report shows effects of Zika on pregnancies

According to a report published in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists were able to determine that 6 percent of pregnancies after contracting the Zika virus infection resulted in one or more birth defects linked to Zika using data from the U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry (USZPR).
Included in the report was data from the continental U.S. and Hawaii that was collected by the Centers for Disease Control and the state and local health departments.
“This is an important study. It shows that the rate of microcephaly and other fetal malformations related to Zika is similar among babies born in the United States – whose mothers were infected during travel to a dozen countries with active Zika transmission – to the estimated rate in Brazil,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said. “Zika poses a real risk throughout pregnancy, but especially in the first trimester; it’s critical that pregnant women not travel to areas where Zika is spreading.”
As of September, there were 442 women who had contracted the Zika virus in the USZPR that completed their pregnancies. Of those, 26 of the completed pregnancies saw one or more birth defects.