AUSTIN, Texas — The scare began about a year ago, and on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an updated report on the Zika virus.

The report shows that, last year, one in 10 pregnant women who were infected with the Zika virus had a fetus or a baby with brain damage or other birth defects related to the virus.

Also, that the risk of birth defects is greater when a woman is infected during the first trimester of a pregnancy — 15 percent of women who contracted Zika in trimester 1 had babies with birth defects.

Last year, almost 1,300 pregnancies with possible Zika infection were reported in 44 different states.

Here in Texas, at the end of March, 181 pregnant women had shown signs of a possible Zika infection — 67 of those babies were born.

According to the Department of State Health Services, seven babies were born with birth defects that could be Zika-related.

Three of those seven are confirmed cases of the virus.

That's about 10 percent of those babies have shown signs of possible Zika infection which is on par with the national average.

Also revealed in this study, some of the women were infected by mosquitoes here in the U.S. but all 51 babies with birth defects were traced to infections that occurred outside of the U.S. in one of 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.

Birth defects, ranging from the condition of abnormally small heads, known as microcephaly, to neural tube defects and eye malformations

For women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, doctors strongly advise not to travel to these countries.

To continue to protect yourself here in Texas, doctors recommend using bug spray, wearing long sleeves when outside and draining any standing water near your homes — It will help prevent mosquitoes from gathering.