A variety of factors can trigger the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including malnutrition, environmental agents and other viruses. It’s possible that since Zika is using most of the energy, the neuronal stem cells are left with metabolic deficits.
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Working with discarded tissue, the researchers infected fetal neural stem cells a building block of the nervous system with three different strains of the Zika virus.
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images] Senator Marco Rubio has been on the forefront of the Zika fight and said in an interview with Politico that despite the concern, even women with Zika should be barred from getting abortions, even when the likelihood of Microcephaly is high, reports Feminist News.
The Zika virus rose to prominence in 2015 after cases of an unknown disease were reported in Brazil. Moreover, differentiation of neural stem cells into mature brain cells, such as neurons and star-shaped supporting cells called astrocytes, was reduced by up to 51 percent.
The proteins called NS4A and NS4B affect the brain by targeting a critical signaling pathway that controls cell growth and breaks down damaged cells and their elements.
Only a small number of children of Zika-infected mothers go on to develop microcephaly, and scientists are also looking for effective biomarkers to help indicate which pregnant women may be at most risk.
Microcephaly is a birth defect where a baby’s head is significantly smaller than average.
Canada’s public health agency is reporting the country’s first baby with “severe neurological congenital anomalies” resulting from the Zika virus.
The BMJ study was based in Recife, the city in Brazil that is at the epicenter of the Zika epidemic, and the study was tiny.
Hern, who performs abortions – including late abortions – in Boulder, CO. said that women seek late-term abortions for a variety of reason, many because of catastrophic fetal abnormalities that are not discovered until late in pregnancy.
An infected mom does not equal an infected fetus, she said.
At a press conference at the Pentagon last month, President Obama stressed said that money redirected from an ebola emergency fund earlier this year to fight Zika is almost depleted, according to CNBC. “We are interested as we move forward and recognise that the neurological conditions may be well beyond microcephaly but may well encompass other neurological illnesses and developmental illnesses”, he said. And while the scientists made this discovery in six months, Jung anticipates the next phase may take several years. Instead, authorities should refocus on educating pregnant women and travelers entering the country from affected areas to prevent the virus spread and protect future children from a lifetime of disability. And this is permanent..
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Then a few days ago the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a statement through the Government Information Service, reminding Barbadians that it is the rainy season and they should take certain precautions to avoid mosquito bites. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
