Zika Tests Have Limited Availability For Women Despite Demand

Bost said his clinic is following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for Zika testing, which gives priority to pregnant women with flu-like symptoms, if they or their partners live in or have recently traveled to an area with a Zika virus outbreak or if they have had sex with someone with the virus. "Maybe in an ideal world you would (test everyone), but there are resource limitations," said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease specialist at the UT Health-School of Public Health. [...] the virus is most dangerous to pregnant women because of it has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that affects the size of an infant's head and brain. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the state has had 195 reported cases of the Zika virus, including two in Jefferson County. Pamela St.