The Brazilian health ministry has confirmed a link between a mosquito-borne virus from Africa, Zika Fever, and a high incidence of birth defects.
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Following the announcement, Pernambuco announced a state emergency on Sunday to bring the authorities’ attention to the urgency of the outbreak, the Brazilian Universo Online news portal said.
While this may happen for a wide range of reasons, including inherited factors, it sometimes occurs as a result of exposure of the baby in the mother’s womb to certain infections, contracted in the first few months of pregnancy.
Brazil has recorded two adult deaths and 739 cases of the disease, which can stunt the growth of the foetus’ head.
The Health Ministry said on Saturday that scientists found the presence of the virus in the blood of a baby born with birth defects in the state of Ceara. Most cases were reported in the north-east of Brazil, and there have been rapid increase in the number of cases in the south-east, in Rio and Sao Paulo.
The government also reported the deaths of an adult and a teenager in what would mark the first non-infant, Zika-linked deaths in the world.
The first confirmed case of death was of a man in the city of Belem, in Para state, who was being treated for Lupus, a disease of the immune system.
The Health Ministry stepped up its call for a “national mobilization” to contain the virus-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito, responsible not only for the spread of Zika but also of dengue fever and Chikungunya.
Zik V symptoms-fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, nausea, vomiting and rash-last approximately four to seven days, and are similar to dengue and Chikungunya. Officials suggest that Brazil must work on an emergency programme to stop Aedes aegypti mosquito from transmitting the virus.
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The decree states that the local and State Health Departments were appointed as coordinators of all action on the issue and are authorized to adopt “all necessary administrative measures” to confront the situation immediately.
