The woman’s fever and rash first appeared in December – though she told her Central American gynecologist she thought she was having an allergic episode. “I said I had had a little fever,” she said, in Spanish. “but it was very brief, only for about an hour.”
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I don’t think you will be affected.’ Then I had an ultrasound, and everything looked fine,” she explains.
While the normal ultrasound happened early in the mother’s pregnancy, surgeon Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan confirmed to the AP that another ultrasound last week showed birth defects, including microcephaly.
Al-Khan, who is also the hospital’s chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive science, said the prognosis for babies born with microcephaly is “generally very poor.”
“It’s a reality we’re living,” the mother, who suspects she contracted the virus through a mosquito. “Sometimes we can underestimate things, but when it’s your turn to be in that situation, that’s the hard part.”
RELATED VIDEO: Zika Virus: What You Need to Know
In April, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the link between Zika andmicrocephaly, saying “There is no longer any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly.”
“Never before in history has there been a situation where a bite from a mosquito can result in a devastating malformation,” Frieden continued.
In early May,PEOPLE reportedthat a pregnant 17-year-old in Danbury, Connecticut, tested positive for Zika but refused to terminate her pregnancy.
Zika causes brief flu-like illness in most people. The first death from a reaction to the Zika virus infection – a Puerto Rican man in his 70s –was reportedin April.
There are currently no vaccines or treatments for Zika. Scientists are working on developing both.
source: people.com
