A baby has been born with Zika-related birth defects in New Jersey.
While the baby girl was born with Zika-related microcephaly, the mother did not contract the virus in the United States. The woman, who chooses to remain unnamed, is from Honduras, which is where she contracted the extremely rare disease.
“This is the second known case of a baby born with Zika-related birth defects in the United States. The first baby was born in Hawaii,” reports CNN.
The Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes and cannot be prevented or treated with any medicine. The virus can also be spread sexually while symptoms are present and the virus remains in the person’s system.
According to CNN, the mother traveled to New Jersey from Honduras to receive better care as she anticipated her infant may contract the virus. The woman, who has family in New Jersey, is currently in stable condition at the Hackensack University Medical Center.
The mother most likely was bitten by an infected mosquito during her second trimester of pregnancy. Babies born to mothers who have Zika are born with small heads and brains (a condition known as “microcephaly”) as well as other birth defects.
While this is the second infant born with Zika-related complications in the US and more than 200 women infected with Zika are currently pregnant in the US, the virus has not yet been spread by mosquitoes.
According to the CDC, no local mosquito-borne Zika virus disease cases have been reported in the United States.
