Meanwhile, the New England Journal of Medicine reported on research conducted on 88 pregnant women in Rio de Janerio, one of the nations suffering most from the Zika virus.
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Zika virus is the leading suspect for what’s causing a spike in certain birth defects reported in Brazil.
Scientists on Friday said they had found the first evidence of a biological link between the Zika virus sweeping Latin America and microcephaly, a severe deformation of the brain among newborns.
A recent study in Cell Press found that the Zika virus infects a type of neural stem cell that affects the brain’s cerebral cortex.
On the same day researchers announced their findings, Florida health officials said they confirmed one new case of Zika virus infection in Miami-Dade, raising the countywide total to 23 people, most in the state.
“Recent papers have found virus particles in fetal brain tissue and amniotic fluid, so as the scientific data has emerged most scientists have not had any doubt that the Zika virus is responsible for the brain injury”, Schleiss said.
“We have found a strong link between Zika and adverse pregnancy outcomes, which haven’t been documented before”, Nielsen added. This makes Colombia the second-most Zika-affected country after Brazil, which has seen an estimated 498,000 to 1.5 million cases. “We did not directly conclude that Zika infection causes microcephaly”, said Professor Tang, a virologist, whose study was published Friday in the USA journal Cell Stem Cell. The ultrasounds for the uninfected women were all normal.
Some of the abnormalities associated with Zika is microcephaly, where babies are born with small skulls due to incomplete brain development, trouble growing in the womb, poor development, calcifications in the brain, and poor blood flow to the brain, umbilical cord, or placenta.
“It does not directly give the proof that this is exactly what the Zika virus is doing in the fetus”. It’s based on the observation that the number of cases of microcephaly appear to have increased in Brazil since the virus became epidemic in that country.
Symptoms of Zika may or may not be detected in those infected, but can include fever, joint pain, rash and red eyes according to a statement from San Francisco Department of Public Health released in the KRON news report. IL reports five cases, including two pregnant women. It enables us to focus the research. The virus is also possibly linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause muscle weakness and paralysis.
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The Missouri man is believed to have contracted the virus while traveling in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, a known area of Zika transmission.
