At least two pregnant women infected with the Zika virus aborted their babies in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
They are among nine pregnant women in the U.S. who tested positive for the virus. All of them are U.S. citizens who reportedly contracted the disease while in one of the central or south American countries or territories currently experiencing Zika outbreaks, then traveled to the United States. An estimated 30 million Americans travel to those areas annually.
According to the CDC, one of the women who aborted her baby received an ultrasound when the child was twenty weeks old. That test reportedly revealed the baby was suffering from a severe brain abnormality.
Aside from the two who aborted their babies, two others suffered miscarriages. Health officials suspect the virus may have led to such a severe case of microcephaly as to have caused the miscarriages, but were unable to confirm that theory.
Three of the pregnant women have delivered their babies. Of those, two of the children were born healthy, the third newborn was stricken with a severe case of the brain defect known as microcephaly, a condition whereby the child's head is abnormally small and underdeveloped. Microcephaly has been linked to the Zika virus, particularly in Brazil, where nearly six thousand cases have been reported.
The remaining two women in the U.S. are still pregnant, and according to fetal tests, are carrying healthy babies.
The CDC is now monitoring an additional ten pregnant women in the U.S. suspected of being infected by the Zika virus. Like the other nine, these are women who traveled to Zika-infected areas and returned to the United States.
At a House committee hearing, CDC Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat said the CDC is in close contact with obstetricians nationwide. The CDC is rapidly producing tests to determine whether a person is infected with the Zika virus, and is expected to have one million of them in the weeks ahead.
So far the CDC has tested nearly three hundred pregnant women who suspected they have the virus. Only three percent of those turned out to be positive.
At the house committee hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said it appears the greatest risk for microcephaly occurs if the pregnant woman is infected with the Zika virus in her first trimester and that the severity of condition can vary.
Fauci added that a Zika vaccine is currently in production and may be ready for trials as early as this summer.