A Puerto Rico resident infected with Zika virus has died from complications of the infection, US health officials said Friday. The man, in his 70s, died from internal bleeding caused by a rare immune reaction to the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. It’s the first death in the United States from Zika virus. “The victim had a condition called thrombocytopenia — low platelet count that can result in bleeding. It’s a rare but known complication of Zika and not a sign that the virus is causing worse symptoms than expected,” the CDC’s Tyler Sharp told NBC News. Zika is spreading fast across Latin America and the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the US, has been hit hard. Health officials said they tested more than 6,000 people for Zika infection, and 11% (683 people) had Zika. “The bigger worry is birth defects,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, a tropical medicine specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine..
