Three quarters, or 76.9%, of the 2,364 women who participated in the survey reported being tested for Zika virus by their healthcare provider during the first or second trimester of pregnancy.
The CDC said because the newer report is much larger, the findings are not statistically different. They included microcephaly, the most high-profile abnormality associated with Zika infection, but also a host of other problems, such as eye damage, hearing loss and restricted movement of arms and legs. About 5 per cent of women infected during their second trimester and about 4 per cent infected in their third trimester had babies with Zika-related birth defects, showing that the virus remains unsafe throughout a woman's pregnancy.
Peggy Honein, who leads the CDC's Zika pregnancy and birth defects task force, said the CDC in late June will resume regular reporting of the number of completed pregnancies and birth defects from US territories.
The report compared the outcomes in relation to which trimester the mother was diagnosed in: If diagnosed in the first trimester, there was an 8% chance a baby would be born with a Zika-related birth defect. Among the pregnancies, there were 120 that resulted in birth defects from Zika.
In fact, 5 percent of those with symptoms gave birth to an infant with a birth defect, while 7 percent of those who had no symptoms had a baby born with a birth defect, said CDC Acting Director Dr. Anne Schuchat.
Last fall, the agency stopped reporting Zika numbers for USA territories because of a disagreement with health officials in Puerto Rico over how cases were being counted.
Although Zika has been beaten back with mosquito control programs in many areas, the virus may not be totally eliminated.
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Among these women, 1,508 had confirmed Zika virus infection from January 1, 2016 to April 25, 2017. The report also highlights that the greatest incidence of Zika-associated birth defects was apparent among infants born to mothers infected during the first trimester: the results showed that 8% of infants born to Zika-infected mothers in USA territories developed complications compared with 15% of those born in U.S. states.
The CDC did not sort the data by territory and neither Schuchat nor Peggy Honein, PhD, MPH, who co-leads the CDC task force on Zika-related pregnancy and birth defects, would say how many cases came from Puerto Rico, one of the countries hit hardest by the Zika virus epidemic. "It's also the first report with enough completed pregnancies to develop early estimates for risk during each trimester, according to the CDC".
Even worse, the data show that birth defects can occur if a woman is infected in any stage of pregnancy. Identification of infants born to mothers with Zika virus infection during pregnancy allows for timely planning of intervention services.
Michelle Flandez at home in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in 2016 with her infant son Inti Perez. The report represents the largest number of completed pregnancies with lab-confirmed Zika virus infections to date, the CDC said.
The CDC has also been tracking mainland U.S. births and found that one in 10, or 5% of, women with confirmed Zika infections had a fetus or baby with Zika-related complications in 2016.
It's been around two years since the mosquito-borne Zika virus began spreading rapidly in Brazil and on to other parts of South and North America, yet experts are still trying to gain a clearer understanding of how the viruses causes severe birth defects like microcephaly - and when pregnant women are most at risk.
The island territories - particularly Puerto Rico - are the US locations hardest hit by the Zika epidemic.
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