But a lab study in America has found that Zika can infect embryonic cells that help form the brain, adding to evidence that the virus causes a serious birth defect.
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New in vitro studies that observed how the original Zika virus strain interacts with different kinds of stem cells found that the virus is especially adept at infecting brain stem cells, reports the Atlantic.
The scientists concluded that Zika infection during pregnancy has “grave outcomes, including fetal death, placental insufficiency, fetal growth, restriction, and [central nervous system] involvement”, the journal said.
In future, the researchers hope to grow mini-brains from the stem cells to observe the long-term effects of Zika infection on neural tissue and to screen for potential therapeutics. Where that man resides and his current condition are now unknown, but FOX 4 has reached out for more information.
Damage to these cells, which eventually differentiate into mature neurons, would be consistent with the brain defects caused by microcephaly.
Nine countries, including Brazil and Colombia, have reported an increase in cases of Guillain-Barre or laboratory confirmation of a person suffering from the rare neurological disorder being infected with Zika, a World Health Organization statement said.
Medical professionals note special concern for infected pregnant women, whose children risk developing brain-damaging microcephaly.
The study from Brazil, reported Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, took a closer look during pregnancy.
While bolstering the connection between Zika virus and brain defects in babies, one of the researchers cautioned that it doesn’t establish a conclusive link.
Rosana Vieira Alves and her 5-month-old daughter Luana Vieira, who was born with microcephaly, pose for a picture in the sea of Porto de Galinhas, a beach located in Ipojuca, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, March 2, 2016.
Babies born with microcephaly have underdeveloped brains and may face severe, lifelong developmental disabilities.
Brazil, till now, has confirmed more than 640 cases of microcephaly in the country and considered of most of these cases to be linked with the Zika virus.
The mosquito-borne virus, which is spreading in Latin America and the Caribbean, normally causes only mild symptoms, if any in adults.
The researchers noted that the problems associated with Zika have similarities to those caused by other congenital viruses in the past, such as rubella, which affected hundreds of thousands of infants in the United States in the late 1950s and 1960s.
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“It is very telling that the cells that form the cortex are potentially susceptible to the virus”, said Ming. Authorities in the South American country were quick to make the link last fall.
