Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Two Utah women with the Zika virus are currently pregnant, Utah Department of Health spokesman Tom Hudachko said Thursday. And two more women who were pregnant while infected have since given birth to healthy babies.
That means women who are or were pregnant make up half of the eight confirmed Zika cases in the state, according to state health department data.
Zika causes mild illness, if any, for most people. The biggest threat is to pregnant women and their babies, who are at risk of a rare and severe birth defect called microcephaly that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and developmental delays.
Across the U.S., 400 pregnant women have lab evidence of possible Zika virus infection, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 1,400 Zika infection cases have been reported as of Wednesday.
Local health officials said Thursday they are closely monitoring Zika patients in Utah.
One of the pregnant women, a Utah County resident, moved to the U.S. from a Zika-affected country, where doctors suspect she contracted the virus, according to Utah County Health Department spokeswoman Aislynn Tolman-Hill.
Tolman-Hill said that the woman was tested after meeting with her OB-GYN, who noticed her health and travel history. According to Tolman-Hill, the woman has recovered, but officials will be monitoring her pregnancy.
The type of mosquitos that carry Zika have rarely been found in Utah, but mosquito control workers are ramping up abatement efforts as they brace for Zika's arrival in the southern U.S.
On Thursday, the CDC awarded $934,000 to Utah to help fight the Zika virus. Altogether, the public health agency is awarding about $60 million to states, cities and territories to combat the virus.
That's in addition to $25 million awarded earlier this month to areas at risk of Zika outbreaks. And next month, the CDC will award another $10 million to help public health officials identify cases of microcephaly and other Zika-related birth complications.
The Obama administration requested $1.9 billion from Congress in February to battle the Zika virus, but Congress adjourned earlier this month for a seven-week recess without being able to break a gridlock on the issue.
With the summer well underway, CDC director Tom Frieden renewed his plea Thursday for Congress to act on Zika.
“Our local, state and territorial health departments are on the front lines in the fight against Zika, and though the necessary funding that is needed isn’t yet available, we cannot wait to provide this essential support,” Frieden said in a statement. "These CDC funds will strengthen state and territorial capacity to respond to Zika virus, an increasingly concerning public health threat.”
Of the eight cases in Utah, none are considered locally acquired, according to Hudachko.
Seven were associated with travel to a Zika-affected area, he said, and the eighth appears to be a "unique" case in which an elderly Salt Lake County man may have passed the Zika virus to a family caretaker, although health officials are uncertain how. Local health officials, aided by the CDC, are still investigating.
Utah's first Zika case, reported in March, was a child who had recently traveled to an affected country.
Later that month, a Salt Lake County woman who had also traveled to an affected country and was infected with Zika virus gave birth to a healthy baby, health officials reported.
Hudachko said that seven of the eight cases are located in Salt Lake County.
