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A baby girl has died in Harris County from complications related to the Zika virus, local public health officials said Tuesday. The death is the first known fatality in Texas linked to the virus, which can cause birth defects when contracted by pregnant mothers. It is the second Zika-related death in the continental United States after an elderly man in Utah died in June. (Walters, 8/9)

The mother traveled during her pregnancy to Latin America, where it's believed she became infected, before giving birth in Harris County, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the county's public health department. She'd traveled to El Salvador and didn't know she had the virus, KHOU reports. The baby was born with birth defects, including microcephaly, a rare condition in which a baby's head is smaller than average.  (Farmer, 8/9)

Zika has claimed the life of a newborn girl in Harris County, health officials said Tuesday, the first infant death in the U.S. involving the mosquito-borne virus. The baby, whose mother traveled to Latin America during her pregnancy, died hours after being born with birth defects associated with Zika. They included but were not limited to microcephaly, a devastating but not usually fatal condition characterized by an abnormally small head and underdeveloped brain. The virus also can cause severe problems to fetuses' lungs and eyes. (Ackerman and Zaveri, 8/9)

Texas health officials reported the state’s first Zika-related death Tuesday, after an infant who died recently in Harris County was determined to have microcephaly, a birth defect linked to the virus. Officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services said the infant’s mother contracted the disease while traveling in Latin America during her pregnancy, and the baby acquired the infection while in the womb. Test results confirmed the baby’s condition and link to Zika, health officials said. (Frosch, 8/9)

Texas reported its first Zika-related death Tuesday after a baby girl whose mother traveled to El Salvador while pregnant died shortly after birth in a suburban Houston hospital. The girl, who died a few weeks ago, had microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health. (8/9)

Several other cases of babies with microcephaly have been documented in the United States in recent months — and some women with Zika have chosen to have abortions after ultrasounds showed a high likelihood of serious complications — but the Texas case appears to be the only one in which a microcephalic infant died shortly after birth. (Dennis, 8/9)