ECUADORIAN authorities confirmed 22 cases of Zika, including the first reported case of a pregnant woman with the virus in the Andean nation.
According to Ecuador’s National Institute of Public Health Investigations (INSPI) the woman is 19-years-old and is in the 27th week of her pregnancy.
The institute has said the woman’s condition is stable and they do not believe the baby is at risk of microcephaly because the mother is at the end of her second trimester.
“At the moment, we have 22 confirmed cases of people with the Zika virus, 9 cases are imported (non-Ecuadorians), 13 domestic cases. We have confirmation of the first pregnant woman with Zika. This woman is at 27 weeks gestation, which would make her outside the high risk time period for her baby to have microcephaly, because it’s been determined that the risk is much higher up to 14 weeks. However, we are following the entire process of gestation,” said National Director of Epidemiological Vigilance Ligia Lema.
It is believed the virus affects babies in the earlier stages of a pregnancy, generally before the 14th week, according to the INSPI’s website.
The virus has been linked to microcephaly, in which babies have abnormally small heads and improperly developed brains.
Investigators believe the woman contracted the illness in Ecuador as she has said she had not travelled outside her home town of Quevedo in central Ecuador about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southwest of Quito.
Lema said she is concerned increased rain from El Nino could increase the number of mosquitoes in the country and hasten the spread of the virus.
“Considering we’re facing an El Nino phenomenon, the amount of precipitation and the temperature has increased in the region where the vector is present. So, in light of this, the amount of vector we’re going to have is much more elevated,” she added.
The virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas, and officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday (February 2) expressed concern that it could hit Africa and Asia as well.
The WHO has said the virus could infect 4 million people in the Americas. It said on Tuesday it launched a global response unit to fight the mosquito-borne virus. (Reuters)
