Reports 7 people in BC, including 2 pregnant women, have Zika virus

There are reports this morning seven people in B.C., including two pregnant women, have tested positive for the Zika virus.

The Vancouver Sun reports the pregnant women are now at BC Women’s Hospital where their babies are being kept under a close watch.

The paper says each case involves travellers returning from Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Dominica and Saint Martin.

According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, 635 patients from British Columbia have been tested for Zika virus.

After months of speculation, the Zika virus has been confirmed as a cause of microcephaly and other birth defects, U.S. officials say.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists made the conclusion after “careful review of existing evidence.” The findings are summarized in a New England Journal of Medicine special report.

READ MORE: Zika virus found in tissue from babies, fetuses with microcephaly

Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes and has also been found to be transmitted via some bodily fluids.

For months it has been speculated that the virus is linked to birth defects; officials in some countries have even warned women against getting pregnant.

Brazilian officials were the first to raise alarm bells over the link between the virus and microcephaly, after a spike in cases of the birth defect in the country.

CDC officials now say the link is “clear.”

-With files from Tania Kohut