--- title: Zika: 3 Infants in U.S. Born With Birth Defects description: The babies had brain problems like microcephaly, excess fluid in the brain, abnormal eye development and more canonical: https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-16T17:54:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:27:02.000Z article:section: Health og:title: 3 Babies in U.S. Born With Zika-Linked Birth Defects og:description: The babies had brain problems like microcephaly, excess fluid in the brain, abnormal eye development and more og:url: https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbfb3ca36acc618/69889607bc6cfc63a23dd3bf/mosquito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: mosquito og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 3 Babies in U.S. Born With Zika-Linked Birth Defects twitter:description: The babies had brain problems like microcephaly, excess fluid in the brain, abnormal eye development and more twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbfb3ca36acc618/69889607bc6cfc63a23dd3bf/mosquito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 3 Babies in U.S. Born With Zika-Linked Birth Defects > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=6c00de65-0bd1-47a5-b01a-0c178313b169&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 12,000 Pregnant Women in Colombia Have Zika [Watch (HLS stream): 12,000 Pregnant Women in Colombia Have Zika](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SRAOnkbs.m3u8) (0:49)  _Published 2016-06-16. An early report on Zika spread in Colombia reveals that close to 12,000 pregnant women have the virus._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:27 AM UTCPublished: Jun 16, 2016 5:54 PM UTC  Getty Images; Illustration by Marisa Gertz for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:27 AM UTCPublished: Jun 16, 2016 5:54 PM UTC Three infants have been born in the U.S. with birth defects due to the [Zika virus](http://time.com/4318624/zika-virus-and-birth-defects-what-you-need-to-know/), health officials report. The babies, whose mothers were infected with Zika, had brain problems like microcephaly, excess fluid in the brain, abnormal eye development and more, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Thursday. The CDC also reported three women with Zika experienced pregnancy losses—defined as miscarriages, stillbirths or abortions—involving fetuses that showed signs of birth defects. The data released on Thursday is part of a new report the CDC will begin sharing regularly on the outcomes of pregnancies for women with Zika in the U.S., based on the CDC’s [Zika Pregnancy Registry](http://www.cdc.gov/zika/hc-providers/registry.html). The majority of the women in the registry got Zika from traveling to an affected country, while some got the virus from sexual transmission though the CDC is not saying how many because of privacy reasons. So far there are no cases of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes in the continental U.S. “We are trying our best to be transparent and responsive and share what we know when we know it,” says Dr. Denise Jamieson, chief of the Women’s Health and Fertility Branch. “Because of privacy it’s been challenging throughout the response to see how much we can share.” So far there are over 200 American women with evidence of [Zika virus](http://time.com/4304583/what-every-woman-need-to-know-about-zika/) infection in the continental U.S., and over 165 in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico. Researchers are getting closer to a clearer understanding the risk of [Zika](http://time.com/4360632/zika-rio-olympics/) during pregnancy. In a report released Tuesday in the _New England Journal of Medicine,_ CDC researchers and health experts in Colombia reported that about 12,000 pregnant women in the country have the virus, but that all the women who were infected in their third trimester and have given birth have had healthy babies. It’s thought, though not yet totally confirmed, that the risk is highest when a woman is infected early in pregnancy. Jamieson says it’s still unclear whether these apparently healthy babies could have any effects down the line. “We hope women will be following our [travel guidance](https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-information), but we are certainly prepared \[for more cases\] as we know that the mosquito season is nearly upon us and there may be some transmission,” says Jamieson. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] As of April, there were nearly 66, 000 reported Zika cases in Colombia, but that number is likely an underestimate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/"},"headline":"3 Babies in U.S. Born With Zika-Linked Birth Defects","datePublished":"2016-06-16T17:54:54.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:27:02.000Z","description":"The babies had brain problems like microcephaly, excess fluid in the brain, abnormal eye development and more","url":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/","keywords":["Zika","America","United States","Mosquitoes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbfb3ca36acc618/69889607bc6cfc63a23dd3bf/mosquito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbfb3ca36acc618/69889607bc6cfc63a23dd3bf/mosquito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mosquito","caption":"mosquito","creditText":"Getty Images; Illustration by Marisa Gertz for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/","name":"3 Babies in U.S. Born With Zika-Linked Birth Defects"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"12,000 Pregnant Women in Colombia Have Zika","description":"An early report on Zika spread in Colombia reveals that close to 12,000 pregnant women have the virus.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SRAOnkbs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-16T14:36:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SRAOnkbs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/","duration":"PT49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4371779/zika-virus-birth-defects-us/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```