New travel-related case of Zika reported in Arkansas

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The number of pregnant women in the United States infected with Zika virus is suddenly tripling, due to a change in how the government is counting cases. In a change announced Friday, May 20, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will count all women who tested positive, regardless of whether they had suffered symptoms. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The number of pregnant women in the United States infected with Zika virus is suddenly tripling, due to a change in how the government is counting cases. In a change announced Friday, May 20, 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will count all women who tested positive, regardless of whether they had suffered symptoms. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

A new travel-related case of the Zika virus was reported in Arkansas on Thursday, increasing the state's total number of patients to five since the first case was reported in January, the Arkansas Department of Health said.

The newly reported case is from a patient who had recently traveled to the Caribbean, a spokesman for the department said.

The Zika virus is spread through mosquitos and sexual contact, though none of the 591 U.S. cases were reported to have been transmitted by mosquitos inside the continental U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pregnant women who contract the Zika virus are most at risk for complications, as the disease is linked to possible birth defects.

Meg Mirivel, the spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Health, declined to identify the gender of the fifth patient.

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