The first baby infected by the Zika virus has been born in a New York City hospital, officials announced on Friday. 
 
 The baby, whose identity was not revealed, was born earlier this month with an unnaturally small head — which is known as microcephaly and is a tell-tale sign of the virus — and later tested positive for Zika, officials said. 
 
 "Obviously we are very saddened by this news," Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio said at a Manhattan press conference on Friday. 
 
 But she said because of the city’s large immigrant population and high amount of international travelers, “We are not surprised." 
 
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 She said the city has been prepping for the scenario for “many months,�? and are prepared to care for the newborn and his mom. 
 
 "We are working diligently to help both this mom and this baby," Palacio said. 
 
 She refused to give out any details of the mother and baby — including what borough they live in and what hospital the baby was born in — due to privacy concerns. 
 
 Palacio did say that the mother had recently traveled to a Zika-affected area, but wouldn’t say where exactly. 
 
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 The mosquito-borne Zika virus causes microcephaly, a disease that causes physical deformities and learning disabilities. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News) 
 
 Nearly all of South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, have been hit hard but the Zika outbreak, and the Health Department has urged travelers not to travel to those places if they are trying to conceive. 
 
 Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said this "sad occurrence" should serve as a reminder for women pregnant or trying to become pregnant. 
 
 "I think having a baby born in our city should make real for all of us that this is not a theoretical risk," she said. 
 
 “It is a risk that affects us right here in New York City.�? 
 
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 Bassett, noting the large number of New Yorker South and Central American descent, acknowledged that staying out of the Zika-infected areas could be hard for people. 
 
 "We're an immigrant city. Nearly half of our population was born somewhere else and the tradition is to go somewhere else," she said. 
 
 "It's not a simple thing to stop doing what you always do … especially when the risk seems only theoretical, as something you only see on television.�? ||||| Officials say a woman diagnosed with the Zika virus gave birth to a girl with microcephaly at a New Jersey hospital, the first apparent case of a baby being born in the tri-state with defects from the disease. Ida Siegal reports. (Published Tuesday, May 31, 2016) 
 
 What to Know The mother had been visiting relatives in the area when she went to the hospital Friday 
 
 The woman is 31 and from Honduras, a nation ravaged by the Zika virus 
 
 The baby was delivered by Cesarean section Tuesday after an ultrasound confirmed the birth defects 
 
 A Honduran woman infected with Zika gave birth in New Jersey to a baby girl with birth defects caused by the virus, her doctor said Wednesday. 
 
 The infant is the second born in the United States with birth defects from the mosquito-borne virus. The first was born in Hawaii to a woman who had lived in Brazil, where the Zika epidemic began in the Americas. 
 
 The doctor said the 31-year-old mother was diagnosed with Zika in her native Central American country, where the virus has spread. She traveled to New Jersey, where she has family, to seek further treatment, he said. Hospital officials stressed that neither the mother nor the baby poses an infectious risk to others. 
 
 Al-Khan said the mother had a normal ultrasound early in her pregnancy, and that another one last week showed birth defects, including microcephaly, in which the baby's head is smaller than expected because the brain hasn't developed properly. He said there was a "medical need" for delivering the baby at about 35 weeks of gestation, more than a month shy of full term. 
 
 "It was very sad for us to see a baby born with such a condition," he said. 
 
 Al-Khan said the prognosis for babies born with microcephaly, which also can signal underlying brain damage, is "generally very poor." 
 
 The mother is "hanging in there" said Al-Khan. "But of course what human being isn't going to be devastated by this news?" 
 
 The Zika virus causes only a mild and brief illness, at worst, in most people. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was enough evidence to declare that Zika causes microcephaly and other brain defects. 
 
 Ten countries have reported cases of microcephaly linked to Zika, which is spread primarily through mosquito bites and can also be transmitted through sex. The baby born in Hawaii also had microcephaly. 
 
 The CDC and the World Health Organization have recommended that pregnant women avoid traveling to Zika-affected countries. 
 
 So far, all the nearly 600 cases of Zika infection reported in the United States have been connected to travel to outbreak areas — none were locally transmitted. Of that tally, 168 are pregnant women. The CDC has not released details about those pregnancies or any outcome. 
 
 Scientists are still trying to determine how risky a Zika infection is for pregnant women. In a study last week, CDC researchers estimated that the risk of microcephaly is in the range of 1 percent to 14 percent. 
 
 Newborns with microcephaly often act just like other newborns, perhaps a bit fussier, NBC News reported. But the disabilities will appear as the growing children miss important milestones. They'll have learning deficiencies, vision problems and hearing problems, and many will also have physical disabilities. 
 
 There is no cure. 
 
 The World Health Organization released new guidelines Tuesday advising people who recently traveled to a Zika-infected country to wait eight weeks before trying to conceive, even if neither partner has symptoms of the virus, which can be sexually transmitted. It also urges protected sex in general. 
 
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 Copyright Associated Press / NBC New York
– New York City's first baby with a Zika-related birth defect was born earlier this month, officials announced Friday. The New York Daily News reports the unidentified baby was born with microcephaly and subsequently tested positive for Zika. Its mother had recently traveled to an area were the virus is being spread by mosquitoes. New York City's deputy mayor of health and human services says the city has been preparing for this eventuality for months due to New York's many immigrants and international travelers. "We are working diligently to help both this mom and this baby," she says. The CDC says a dozen babies with Zika-related birth defects have been born in the US so far, according to NBC New York.