First pregnant woman in Catalonia to be infected with Zika virus

Barcelona (CNA).- The Catalan Ministry for Health has confirmed this Thursday that there are two new cases of people infected with Zika virus. One of them is a pregnant woman, the first of this type of case detected in Catalonia. The woman is between 13 and 14 weeks pregnant and is said to have contracted the virus on a trip to Colombia. The disease is especially grave for pregnant women as it may cause malformations in the baby’s brain, which may lead to it being underdeveloped. These new cases are to be added to the other four detected on Wednesday and there are thus now already six people, four men and two women, infected with the virus. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has spread mainly in South America. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. 

The health authorities in Catalonia wanted to emphasise that pregnant women are the group at highest risk when contracting the virus, as the consequences might be especially grave for their babies, producing malformations in the foetuses’ brains. 

The Catalan Ministry for Health doesn’t exclude the possibility of more cases of the Zika infection in Catalonia, but insists that it “is not a public health risk” yet. The authorities wanted to emphasise that there is currently no transmission of the virus in Catalonia nor “is it likely to happen” in the next weeks. However, the Catalan Ministry for Health will continue to display the protocol for detection and take action regarding the possibility of new cases. The Catalan Ministry for Health and the Spanish Ministry for Health have confirmed that they are working together on analysing the evolution of the infection.