Oregon has confirmed its first case of Zika virus since world health officials declared it a global public health emergency.
Oregon health officials say the case involves a woman who fell ill after visiting a Zika-affected country. The woman has since recovered. Health officials said federal privacy protections keep them from disclosing more about her.
Richard Leman with Oregon Division of Public Health said the woman is Oregon's first Zika case of 2016, but probably not the last.
"I would fully expect we will see more cases in Oregon, but I think that they are going to be folks who have had travel," Leman said. "There's potentially a lot of testing that will go on. CDC has cast a very broad net, in terms of folks who can be tested when they return."
Leman said it's very unlikely anyone in Oregon would contract Zika without traveling. It's a mosquito-borne illness, but not by the kind of mosquitoes living in the Northwest. It can also be transmitted sexually, but doctors say that's quite rare.
Zika is a relatively mild illness, but researchers recently found a possible link between the disease and birth defects in babies whose mothers have been infected.