The Connecticut Department of Public Health on Tuesday announced that a pregnant Connecticut woman has tested positive for Zika virus.
According to DPH, the patient became ill with a fever and rash while travelling in Central America. It was during this trip that the patient obtained the virus. The patient has since returned to Central America.
DPH officials contacted the patient’s Connecticut physician Tuesday with the positive result and are working to get in touch with the patient or her family to ensure that she seeks medical care while out of the country.
To date, 426 cases of travel-related Zika have been reported in the continental United States. Of those, 36 were pregnant women and eight were sexually transmitted. In Connecticut, 245 patients, including 217 pregnant women, have been tested for Zika virus. Tuesday’s result is the third positive test in Connecticut and first for a pregnant woman, DPH said.
The DPH State Laboratory identified Zika specific antibodies in the latest patient’s blood, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the findings.
