The Latest Zika News Will Actually Leave You Feeling Hopeful

Despite global fears of pregnant women delivering babies with microcephaly if they contract the Zika virus, one new mother just gave birth to a "clinically healthy" baby.

According to Mexico's health ministry, the mother became infected with the mosquito-borne disease while pregnant with her baby boy — but it doesn't appear that the virus led to any potentially debilitating birth defects. The new mom, who is only one of six known Mexican mothers-to-be to be infected with the virus during pregnancy, delivered her son in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico.

Although the Zika virus has been connected to microcephaly, this little boy was born with an average-size head (a clear sign that he doesn't have this devastating birth defect) and weighed in at 6 pounds. The other five women are all being treated with specialized care throughout their pregnancies, and two have even made it past the 28-week mark without any signs that their unborn babies are not developing properly.

More research is being done to try and understand the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly — including whether the mother's age, the trimester in which she contracts the disease, or genetics play a role in a newborn's chances of being born with birth defects. But for now, this is a welcome update in what has up until now been an increasingly frightening epidemic.