LAKEVIEW — A Chicago woman has contracted the Zika virus, an infectious disease that can cause significant birth defects, doctors at Presence Saint Joseph Hospital confirmed Monday.
The case is the first confirmed instance of Zika infection in Chicago since the virus began making headlines as it sweeps through Central and South America. Five people in Illinois, including the Chicago woman, have contracted the virus, said Dr. Roberta Luskin-Hawk, CEO of Presence Saint Joseph
Though the woman was found to have contracted the disease, she has already been treated and is not at risk of spreading the disease in Chicago, Luskin-Hawk said.
"She has made a full recovery," Luskin-Hawk said at a press conference Monday. "We do not anticipate any lasting complications from this infection."
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The Zika virus causes flu-like symptoms in patients, but its most dangerous effects are reported birth defects in pregnant women with the disease, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The woman, who Presence confirmed is in her 30's, had recently traveled to Colombia, one of the South America countries where the disease has grown to near-epidemic levels.
She saw her doctor after complaining of flu-like symptoms, and doctors at Saint Joseph collected a blood test in early February, saying at the time that the woman had a "50/50 chance" of having the virus.
The blood sample was sent to the CDC in Atlanta, which confirmed on Monday the presence of Zika in the woman's blood, Luskin-Hawk said.
The woman had already been treated and had recovered by that point. In fact, the woman never had to be admitted to the hospital, Saint Joseph Hospital officials said.
The virus is likely out of her system now, Luskin-Hawk said, and since the disease is transferred through infected mosquitos in South America, the woman is not a danger to public health.
Luskin-Hawk said the disease can also be transmitted sexually, though only when it is still active. The disease leaves a person's bloodstream after about a week of successful treatment, Luskin-Hawk said.
Though the Zika virus is causing worldwide concern, especially with the summer 2016 Olympics in Brazil looming, Luskin-Hawk said Zika shouldn't pose the same kind of threat as other viruses like Ebola, which has caused the death of thousands in Africa, according to the CDC.
"The overwhelming majority of patients will have no symptoms at all," said Luskin-Hawk of the Zika virus. "Patients with it can recover completely."
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