© Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse
A researcher looks at Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at a lab of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Sao Paulo University, on January 8, 2016 in Sao Paulo, Brazil as researchers work to combat Zika virus epidemic
The United States has reported its first case of a newborn suffering from brain damage linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus that has caused birth defects in Latin America.
The baby, born in a hospital in Oahu, suffers from microcephaly, a rare condition that means its brain and skull are abnormally small, the Hawaiian state health department said late Friday.
The mother was probably infected with the virus early in her pregnancy while living in Brazil in May 2015 and transmitted it to the fetus, the health department said.
It added that neither mother nor child is still infected and that there is no danger to anyone in Hawaii. There is no vaccine to prevent the disease.
The Zika virus, which can impair normal intellectual development in newborns, has affected several thousand babies in Brazil in recent months.
The case in Hawaii was confirmed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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