The top-rated Texas Children’s Hospital Pavilion for Women in Houston will open a Zika clinic for pregnant women at risk for contracting the virus. Hospital officials say the clinic is the first of its kind in the Lone Star State.
Texas public health officials confirmed the birth of a baby boy in Harris County with Zika-linked microcephaly, the congenital birth defect where a newborn’s head and brain are only partially developed. This marks the first live birth of a baby with Zika-related microcephaly in the Lone Star State.
Ten pregnant women tested positive with preliminary testing for Zika in Dallas County. The good news is they all contracted the virus outside of the United States. Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) Director Zachary Thompson announced 10 pregnant women traveled to Zika hot spots and got infected with the virus. Thompson spoke to the Dallas County Commissioners Court, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.
Officials in San Antonio, Texas, worry that Zika virus may pose a serious threat to the local blood supply. They held a press conference Monday to address these concerns.
Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) expressed concerns that Zika-carrying mosquitoes could bring the virus from Mexico into the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Thursday the first U.S. case of male-to-male sexually transmitted Zika. A Dallas man contracted the virus while traveling in Venezuela. Later, in Texas, the man infected his male partner through anal sex.
Brazil and the University of Texas signed an agreement to develop a Zika Virus vaccine. The vaccine may be on the way sooner than many health experts anticipated. The goal is to have the vaccine ready for clinical trials within a year and market-ready in three years.
Texas health officials confirmed three new cases of the Zika virus Wednesday, one in Dallas County and two in Bexar County, bringing the total number of people in the Lone Star State infected up to 13. More test results are still pending from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) Director Zachary Thompson expects local lab to begin Zika virus testing as quickly as next week in an effort to stay ahead of any potential outbreaks in North Texas.
Dallas County officials plan to take on the Zika virus with a task force, created in response to this week’s announcement of two confirmed cases of the illness in the Big D. Twenty-six officials from cities within the county attended the group’s first meeting on Feb. 3.
An expert in pediatric infectious diseases told reporters in Dallas that people in Texas who are infected with the Zika virus could infect mosquitoes and start a new “transmission cycle” in Texas.
