Nicaragua says detects Zika in three pregnant women

Reuters
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen on the forearm of a health technician in a laboratory conducting research on preventing the spread of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, at the entomology department of the Ministry of Public Health in Guatemala City, February 4, 2016. REUTERS/Josue Decavele

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua said on Thursday it has confirmed its first three cases of Zika in pregnant women in different parts of the country, taking the total number of cases in the Central American country to 29. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo, who is also Nicaragua's first lady, said the women were each three to four months pregnant, and that the country was forging ahead with a fumigation program. The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency, citing a "strongly suspected" causal relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can cause permanent brain damage in newborns. El Salvador is grappling with thousands of cases, and last month urged women to avoid getting pregnant until 2018 to avoid their children developing birth defects from the mosquito-borne Zika virus rampaging through the Americas. (Reporting by Ivan Castro)