Most people infected with the Zika virus will never experience any symptoms meaning they may never know they have it.
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Researchers recommended that people “prepare for a global epidemic of microcephaly and other manifestations of congenital Zika syndrome”.
For each case, two controls were selected. Due to a link between infection during pregnancy and microcephaly in the infant, pregnant women are strongly advised to delay travel to Zika-affected areas.
“The researchers said they published their preliminary findings without waiting to finish the larger study-which will look at 200 babies with microcephaly and 400 control babies-because the results were so powerful”, STAT News reported.
So far only Virginia’s who’ve traveled to warmer regions, where the virus is more common, have been diagnosed with the disease, Virginia Department of Health figures indicate.
Small businesses in two areas where local transmission of the Zika virus was detected in the USA state of Florida have experienced economic pain, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Anne Schuchat, said on Thursday.
At the same time, Brazil was seeing a substantial increase in cases of microcephaly – where babies are born with abnormally small heads – particularly in the north eastern state of Pernambuco, one of the states at the center of the Zika epidemic. In June, Scott authorized $26.2 million from state funds to fight the virus, but he said most of that funding has already been distributed.
The authors conducted a case-control study at eight public hospitals in Brazil between January 15 and May 2, 2016. A changed format omitted some data on the August 9 report, which also was released a day late.
Scott’s office said the state money will be spent “as needed” on issues such as mosquito abatement, training for mosquito-control workers and the purchase of Zika prevention kits. In Brazil alone, more than 1,000 babies have been born with microcephaly since 2015.
During the study, scientists discovered that babies with microcephaly were 50 percent likely to have contracted the infection through the Zika virus while still in the womb. The ratio was 80 percent versus 64 percent.
A high proportion of mothers of both microcephaly and non-microcephaly babies also tested positive for another mosquito-borne virus, dengue fever, as well as other infections such as herpes, rubella and toxoplasma.
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Even if the strength of the association decreases as more cases of microcephaly are included, the study still starkly demonstrates the risk Zika poses to developing fetuses.
