Zika Virus Update: Number of Infected Pregnant Women Tripled, CDC Says

Latest data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that the number of pregnant women in the United States infected with Zika virus has more than tripled, jumping from 48 to 157 in addition to more than 120 women already known to be inflicted with the mosquito-borne virus in US overseas territories especially Puerto Rico.

The US public health agency further said that less than dozen or so babies have reportedly suffered from a number of Zika-linked medical conditions which primarily include neurological birth defects like microcephaly characterized by unusually small heads in infants. According to Dr. Margaret Honein of CDC's birth defects branch, the 157 cases are still ongoing pregnancies so the US health authorities are not yet sure how many more babies will end up suffering.

"The CDC's top priority in the Zika response is protecting pregnant women and their fetuses," Honein said as quoted by CNN.

So far, no individual is confirmed to have been infected with Zika from a mosquito bite while in the United States. Most, if not all, Zika patients in the US have contracted the virus while traveling to places where it is endemically widespread. It is also possible that the infection could have also occurred through sexual intercourse with a male partner who recently went to Zika-affected countries mainly in Latin American and Caribbean regions.

As of the moment, experts at CDC sill cannot gauge the exact medical risks that the Zika virus brings. US health authorities remain wary of any possible large outbreak happening on US soil that's why they're keeping a close watch on all affected pregnancies.

Previously, CDC only included cases of women with positive test results plus symptoms. However, recent studies now suggest that Zika infections do not necessarily manifest any signs or symptoms. This means that the public health body is expanding its medical reporting to cover suspected patients who didn't have the Zika-related symptoms.

"As the data accumulated about the risk of asymptomatic infections, it seemed more and more important to be very transparent and share publicly the numbers, the full number of pregnant women at risk of adverse outcomes associated with Zika," said Honein in a press briefing as quoted in a report by NPR.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama blasted the highly polarized US Congress for not acting on his request to bankroll a medical research initiative to prevent Zika from spreading further. He originally requested for $1.9 billion to fund an anti-Zika program to avert 'bigger problems' in the future.

"This is not something where we can build a wall to prevent (the spreading of Zika), mosquitoes don't go through customs, to the extent that we're not handling this thing on the front end, we're going to have bigger problems on the back end," the US President said as quoted by BBC News.