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Some 157 pregnant women in the US and another 122 are in US territories have tested positive for infection with the Zika virus, health authorities say.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a conference call that so far fewer than a dozen of the infected pregnant women it has tracked in the US and Puerto Rico have had miscarriages or babies born with birth defects.
It was the first time the CDC had disclosed the number of Zika-infected pregnant women in the US and its territories.
Health authorities have determined the mosquito-borne virus can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by unusually small head size.
The virus can also lead to severe brain abnormalities and developmental problems in babies.
The CDC told reporters it has significantly increased its US testing capacity for Zika, which can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person.
Virtually all the Zika cases in the continental US so far have been seen in people returning from countries where the virus is prevalent, such as in Latin America, or through sexual transmission by travellers.
This is the same for the 544 total cases in the 50 US states so far, said the CDC.
It comes after the US Swimming team moved a pre-Olympic training camp from Puerto Rico to Atlanta over fears about the Zika virus.
The CDC had previously counted only pregnant women who have had a positive blood test for Zika and who are also showing symptoms.
But under a change announced on Friday, the agency said it would now count pregnant women who test positive for Zika in blood tests, regardless of whether they are showing symptoms.
Under the old definition, there were 48 pregnant women with Zika in the 50 US states.
The virus is spread mainly through the bite of a tropical mosquito, called Aedes aegypti.
It can be found in the southern US, but there is no evidence that they have been spreading the virus in the US yet.
Courtesy of Sky News
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