REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TEXAS -- Texas health officials on Monday reported the state's first case of Zika likely spread by local mosquitoes, making Texas the second state within the continental United States to report local transmission of the virus that has been linked to birth defects. The case involved a woman living in Cameron County near the Mexico border who is not pregnant, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

Pregnancy is the biggest concern with Zika because the virus can cause severe, life-long birth defects, including

microcephaly, in which a child is born with an abnormally small head, a sign its brain has stopped growing normally. Texas said it currently has no other suspected cases of local Zika transmission, but officials there plan to step up efforts to watch for the virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was coordinating with state and local officials to increase surveillance efforts and "vector control activities" such as spraying for adult mosquitoes and applying larvicide to kill emerging mosquitoes.

Texas is one of several U.S. states where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry Zika, are present. Florida's Miami Dade County has been battling Zika within local mosquito populations since mid-summer. As of today, the state has had 238 cases of locally transmitted Zika. "We knew it was only a matter of time before we saw a Zika case spread by a mosquito in Texas," Dr. John Hellerstedt, Texas Department of State Health Services commissioner, said in a statement.

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