The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States has confirmed a case of Zika virus in Texas in the US. The case involves a traveler who recently returned from Latin America.
According to a statement from Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services, the patient developed symptoms associated with the Zika virus, including fever, rash, and joint pain.
The virus is spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
The illness was first identified in the Americas less than two years ago and has spread rapidly across South and Central America.
Since the first local case of Zika was detected in Brazil last May, health officials estimate as many as 1.3 million people there have caught it.
Scientists in Brazil have linked the infections to a recent uptick in cases of microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads, which often leads to mental retardation.
