CHICAGO – As US public health officials try to determine whether Zika has arrived in the country, doctors are establishing guidelines on how to care for the rising number of babies whose mothers were infected with the virus during pregnancy.
Florida said it was investigating two possible cases of Zika not related to travel to an area where Zika was active, raising the possibility of the first incidence of local transmission of the mosquito-borne virus.
On Thursday, the Florida Department of Health said it was investigating a non travel-related case of Zika in Broward County, marking the second such case.
Florida has asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist in its investigation that must also rule out sexual transmission.
So far, 400 pregnant women in the continental United States have evidence of Zika infection, up from 346 from a week ago, the CDC reported on Thursday.
All of those were related to travel or sex with an infected person who had traveled.
Three more babies have been born in the US with birth defects linked to Zika infections in their mothers, bringing the total to 12, CDC said.
Zika has been proven to cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect marked by small head size and undersized brains that requires a complex network of care providers and social workers to treat and provide support to parents.
But microcephaly is just the tip of the iceberg, according to experts speaking at a CDC-sponsored workshop on Thursday. They said many babies exposed in utero who appear normal at birth may have developmental problems down the road, including hearing and vision problems.
For example, babies born without a functional sucking reflex may never develop the ability to swallow and will need to be fed through a feeding tube. These infants will have a higher risk of pneumonia, said Dr. Edwin Trevathan, a pediatrician and child neurologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
