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Four of Utah's eight Zika cases have been in pregnant women, and two have since given birth to healthy babies, health officials said Thursday.

The women and their babies are being monitored by their doctors, said Utah Department of Health spokesman Tom Hudachko. The virus is linked to birth defects, including microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development.

Two of the Utah women are still pregnant, including a case confirmed earlier this month by Utah County of a woman who caught the virus in an unnamed country in a Zika-affected part of the world and then moved to Utah County.

She has since recovered but the potential effects on the fetus are not yet known, said Utah County Health Department spokeswoman Aislynn Tolman-Hill.

Primarily spread by tropical mosquitoes, Zika causes only a mild illness in most people.

More than 1,300 Zika illnesses have been reported in the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Almost all were people who had traveled to Zika outbreak countries and caught the virus, though a handful were people who had not traveled to Zika zones but had sex with someone who had.

Another Zika case reported in Utah became the first death related to the virus in the continental United States. The man's son took care of him and was also infected, raising new questions about how the disease is transmitted.

Also Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Utah will get $934,000 to help the state's efforts to fight the Zika virus.

The money will go toward studying the disease, improving mosquito control and participation in a registry to monitor pregnant Zika-infected women and their babies.

The cash is the state's share of $60 million the federal agency has come up with to divide between states and territories for local Zika efforts.

Officials say more is needed to combat the virus.