First Zika case reported in Philadelphia

The first case of Zika infection in a Philadelphia resident was reported Monday by the city Department of Public Health.

The woman, who had recently returned from the Caribbean, is over 60 and did not require hospitalization, the city said. She is recovering without complications.

More than 100 cases of Zika infection have been reported around the country, including four in Pennsylvania and two in New Jersey, the vast majority of them transmitted by mosquito bites during travel to countries in Latin and South America, where the virus is epidemic.

Zika causes no symptoms in 80 percent of cases and mild, flulike illness in most of the rest. But an unconfirmed link between Brazilian women who were infected during pregnancy and babies born with abnormally small heads and, often, brain damage has raised alarm worldwide.

"Because of the potential for congenital Zika infection, pregnant women should strongly consider canceling or postponing travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of infection," Philadelphia Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley said in a statement.

The vast majority of Zika infections have been transmitted by a mosquito that is not found in the Philadelphia region. A small number of men who contracted the virus while traveling in the affected countries have transmitted it to their sexual partners, and it also has been transmitted from mothers to fetuses.

The city said that residents with questions about the virus could call 215-685-6740. Additional information about Zika and cases among Pennsylvania residents is posted at www.zika.pa.gov.

dsapatkin@phillynews.com

215-854-2617

@DonSapatkin