pregnant athletes zika Archives

In a travel advisory Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated that pregnant women consider not going to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games or to the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil.

The agency issued the travel advisory along with its first report about infection with the mosquito-borne Zika virus in pregnant U.S. women. While the illness caused by the Zika virus is usually mild, the Brazilian outbreak has been especially concerning because of its link to a sharp rise in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by brain abnormalities and an unusually small head.

“We know Zika and microcephaly are associated, although we do not yet have definitive proof that Zika infection alone is the cause of microcephaly,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said at a press briefing, adding that “the evidence for this is getting stronger by the day.”