The mother was visiting the US from Honduras and had contracted Zika there, though apparently her symptoms were limited to a rash. The baby, born in Hackensack, NJ, apparently has microcephaly, intestinal and visual issues. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/05/31/hackensack-new-jersey-baby-zika-defect/85216494/. So sad.
I’m really afraid about this. By the time the darned things start showing up here carrying Zika, people will still be getting pregnant right and left without a thought.
Apparently some of the US olympic athletes are considering skipping the Rio games for fear of exposure to/contracting Zika. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/us-athletes-concerned-zika-skip-rio-olympics-39497852
Everyone freaked out over Ebola, which was totally overblown. The Zika virus is a much bigger deal.
I am curious as to why she was traveling so far from home, so late in her pregnancy?
Another article reported that she was visiting the US in hopes of getting better medical treatment.
Not to worry - Congress is all over this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/us/zika-senate-vote-emergency-funding.html?_r=0
Oh wait…not really.
And now the baby is a US citizen, with all the rights and privileges (and, in this case, expense to the taxpayers) that US citizenship entails!
So she was hoping to receive medical care? Well this will be a large unpaid bill for the hospital to absorb.
This mother knew exactly what she was doing in coming to the US. She was not ‘visiting’. She suspected the baby would be severely impacted and needed the US taxpayers to pay her bills.
Not every person has an ulterior motive.
Anchor babies are a real phenomenon. People will do what makes most economic sense to them, and if they have to crawl over the border to get to a hospital to get their child medical care, they’ll do it. That’s a fact of life of our open borders.
I admit that it crossed my mind that the woman came here for better health care, but I was thinking that at least the baby will have a better start than in Honduras, not the drain on our tax dollars.
I do worry about Zika-infected mosquitoes making their way into the U.S. My D has been a magnet for mosquito bites since she was a toddler, and the worst I ever worried about was scarring. Now that she’s a young adult, there’s a whole new set of worries.
No one even knows why the women is even here. All you are doing is speculating and attributing ulterior motives to this woman with zero facts to back you up.
You also don’t know if the baby will even live very long or that the woman has any plans to even stay in the US - yet the first thing you do is pronounce, as if fact, why she came and how it’s because she wants the US tax payer to pick up the tab.
The fact of the matter is, no matter how and why the mother came here, the baby is an American, just as the complaining posters (presumably) are. The fact that the first American baby has been born with microencephaly caused by Zika is very sad indeed.
I’m not sure any medical treatment can do much, but I hope the child is able to get the best possible care befitting any other American citizen.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/01/health/baby-born-microcephaly-new-jersey/
“The mother, who has relatives in New Jersey, traveled to the United States from Honduras in hopes of receiving better medical care because she knew her baby may have Zika-related problems, according to Al-Khan.”
The subject line of this thread is incorrect. The linked article’s title is “Third baby born in U.S. shows defect tied to Zika virus” (not first baby). The article mentions earlier cases in Hawaii and somewhere in the south.
Yes, I believe HI may have the sad distinction of the 1st – a pregnant mom who got Zika while in an affected country.
“The mother, who has relatives in New Jersey, traveled to the United States from Honduras in hopes of receiving better medical care because she knew her baby may have Zika-related problems, according to Al-Khan.”
It’s not illegal for people from other countries to come to the US for medical treatment.
But were those other babies born with microencephaly? That’s what makes the case of this American baby so tragic.
First, not everyone who lives in Honduras is penniless… This MAY be someone who can afford health care for her child.
Second, who on this board would not do everything they could for the sake of their child? Most posters on this board (not me, and not all of us) have savings accounts, good health insurance, and resources at your disposal. You judge from your perspective. But if you did not have these things, and your child would be born with serious health issues and no resources to help him or her, wouldn’t you do whatever it took to get the best care you could?