Frequent exams only treatment for pregnant woman with Zika

MIAMI (AP) — Yessica Flores is getting ultrasounds more frequently than the average pregnant woman, but there's a cruel downside accompanying the joy of seeing how much her unborn daughter grows every few weeks: fear of possible defects caused by Zika.

[...] doctors don't currently know why the virus — which is mainly spread by city-dwelling mosquitoes but also can be sexually transmitted — remains detectable in a pregnant woman's bloodstream far longer than in the bloodstream of a man or a woman who is not pregnant.

[...] this summer, the only cases of Zika on the U.S. mainland stemmed from travel to areas with Zika epidemics — mostly the Caribbean and Latin America.

The Miami area comprises the bulk of Florida's Zika caseload, and U.S. health officials now recommend Zika testing for all pregnant women who have spent time anywhere in Miami-Dade County.