Hawaii health officials confirmed Friday that a baby born in Oahu had brain damage linked to a past Zika virus infection. The virus has been in the spotlight in recent weeks as a possible culprit for an increase in brain deformities in newborns in Brazil. The Hawaii case could be the first in the U.S.

The child’s mother had resided in Brazil in May 2015, the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) said in a statement (PDF), and it is likely she acquired the disease at that point and the baby was infected in the womb.

The DOH said that to date, no cases of Zika virus have been acquired in Hawaii. Six people have been found with Zika virus in the state since 2014, but all had come by the virus in other countries.

Officials added that the mother and child, who was born with microcephaly, a rare condition resulting in a small head, were not infectious. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been approached for comment.

“We are saddened by the events that have affected this mother and her newborn,” Dr. Sarah Park, DOH state epidemiologist, said in the statement. “This case further emphasizes the importance of the CDC travel recommendations.”

On Friday, the CDC issued interim travel guidance for pregnant women, or women planning to become pregnant, for countries where the virus has been found. Those countries include Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador, and 11 others in the Americas. In 2015, Puerto Rico announced its first confirmed Zika virus case.

As Mashable reported, the virus is thought to be behind a surge in birth deformities in Brazil, including microcephaly. The link has not been definitively proven, but Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s division of vector borne infectious diseases, told media Friday the strong association between the two prompted the CDC to issue its advice.

Spread person to person via the bite of an infected Aedes species of mosquito, symptoms of Zika virus include fever, rash, conjunctivitis (red eyes) and joint pain, among others.

There is no vaccine available for the Zika virus, so those travelling to affected countries are advised to take precautions against mosquito bites, including wearing long sleeves and pants and using mosquito repellant.

Hawaii is currently suffering an outbreak of dengue fever, another infection linked to the Aedes mosquito.

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