First US Zika death reported in Puerto Rico

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday announced the country's first Zika-related death in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

"In one identified Zika virus-associated case, the patient died of complications related to severe thrombocytopenia," a blood disorder that can cause severe bleeding in some patients, the CDC wrote in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "Although Zika virus-associated deaths are rare, the first identified death in Puerto Rico highlights the possibility of severe cases, as well as the need for continued outreach to raise health care providers' awareness of complications that might lead to severe disease or death."

Puerto Rico's Health Secretary Ana Rius said that the victim is a 70-year-old man who died in late February, according to U.S. media reports.

The CDC also reported that there were 683 laboratory-confirmed current or recent Zika cases in Puerto Rico, where it said the mosquito-borne virus posed "a public health challenge."

The most frequently reported signs and symptoms were rash (74 percent), myalgia (68 percent), headache (63 percent), fever (63 percent), and arthralgia (63 percent).

Of those patients, 17 required hospitalization, including five patients with suspected Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare muscle weakness condition.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced 5 million U.S. dollars in funding to 20 health clinics in Puerto Rico to combat the Zika virus.

Zika virus, which has been spreading through the Americas, is transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.