THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The latest news regarding two pregnant women who returned to the US with the Zika virus, they have miscarried. A miscarriage is never good news for a woman however, tests have shown the presence of the virus in the placentas.

Two U.S. women who contracted the Zika virus while traveling out of the country miscarried after returning home, and the virus was found in their placentas, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

Federal health officials have not previously reported miscarriages in American travelers infected with the mosquito-borne virus while abroad. But there have been miscarriages reported in Brazil, the epicenter of a Zika epidemic that now spans nearly three dozen countries.

The STAT website first reported the U.S. miscarriages, based on information from the CDC's chief pathologist. The pathologist told STAT the women miscarried early in their pregnancies but provided no additional details.

Last month, officials said a baby born in a Hawaii hospital was the first in the country with a birth defect linked to Zika. Hawaii officials said the baby's mother likely contracted the virus while living in Brazil last year and passed it on while her child was in the womb. Babies born with this rare condition, known as microcephaly, have abnormally small heads and brain abnormalities.

In testimony before Congress Wednesday, CDC Director Tom Frieden reiterated that the agency is learning more about Zika every day, including how it can be transmitted from mother to fetus. Increasing evidence in Brazil also is linking Zika to microcephaly and other suspected neurological complications.

More than four dozen Zika cases have been confirmed in 14 states and the District of Columbia -- six involving pregnant women -- with at least another 21 cases in U.S. territories, the CDC said last Friday. Frieden also said that one U.S. case of Guillain-Barré syndrome may be linked to Zika.

And until a vaccine can be found, miscarriage or abortion may be the only hope for pregnant women with Zika.