--- title: Zika is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Officials Say description: "This could lead to dozens or hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly in the coming year,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of CDC canonical: https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/ author: Rosalie Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-17T18:03:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:27.134Z article:section: Health og:title: Zika Is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Health Officials Say og:description: The CDC has been testing donated blood supply og:url: https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Zika Is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Health Officials Say twitter:description: The CDC has been testing donated blood supply twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Zika Is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Health Officials Say > 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 daily 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 daily 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. ## 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 [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 17, 2016 6:03 PM UTC by [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 17, 2016 6:03 PM UTC [Zika infections](http://time.com/4318624/zika-virus-and-birth-defects-what-you-need-to-know/?iid=sr-link1) are increasing rapidly in Puerto Rico, U.S. health officials said Friday. “This could lead to dozens or hundreds of infants being born with microcephaly in the coming year,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” in a press conference [CNBC reports](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/17/zika-infections-are-increasing-rapidly-in-puerto-rico.html?utm%5Fcontent=buffer7a7da&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer). The CDC is tracking Zika infections in the donated blood supply in Puerto Rico, CNBC reports. The percentage of blood that tests positive for Zika has been on the rise, with the most recent data showing that for the week of June 5-June 11, 1.1% of blood donations in Puerto Rico tested positive for the virus. According to officials, even this apparently small amount of Zika implies a higher rate of infection among the people of Puerto Rico. Frieden said there may be a 2% rate of infection in Puerto Rico each month. He added that over the course of many months there is a “substantial chance a woman would become infected.” Blood centers in the continental U.S. are using questionnaires to determine if people have traveled to places where Zika is actively spreading. In Puerto Rico, donated blood that tests positive for the virus is removed from the supply. Zika can cause microcephaly in the babies of [infected pregnant women](http://time.com/4304583/what-every-woman-need-to-know-about-zika/?iid=sr-link3), which leads to underdeveloped brains and smaller heads. The CDC said there have been [six cases of pregnancies with Zika virus-linked birth defects](http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/six-cases-zika-virus-linked-birth-defects-us-cdc-says-n593866) in the U.S. [\[CNBC\]](http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/17/zika-infections-are-increasing-rapidly-in-puerto-rico.html?utm%5Fcontent=buffer7a7da&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer) ## 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/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/"},"headline":"Zika Is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Health Officials Say","datePublished":"2016-06-17T18:03:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:27.134Z","description":"The CDC has been testing donated blood supply","url":"https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/","keywords":["Healthcare","global health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rosalie Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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":"https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/","name":"Zika Is Spreading Rapidly in Puerto Rico, Health Officials Say"}}]},{"@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/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/","duration":"PT49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4373358/zika-spreading-rapidly-puerto-rico/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```