The Brazilian and British research team noted that prior studies had not followed the “gold standard” methodology of comparing babies with microcephaly against a set of closely matched (but healthy) controls.
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The CDC today in its regular weekly update reported that one more baby in the continental United States has been born with Zika-related birth defects, lifting that number to 18.
Scientists have produced the strongest evidence yet that Zika virus infection in pregnant women causes microcephaly in their babies. The percentage of Zika-infected mothers of babies born without the condition was surprisingly high: 64%, 39 of 61. None of the normal babies did.
Their study is comprehensive.
The study is ongoing at eight public hospitals in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco and will ultimately evaluate 600 babies.
The CDC confirmed 53 cases of the Zika virus in the state of MI.
Because the symptoms of Zika are similar to those of many other diseases, many cases may not have been recognized.
In adults, the virus also has been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome – a temporary paralysis brought about when the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system, and which sometimes can result in death.
A few months ago, Haiti confirmed a case of Zika-related microcephaly, a severe birth defect.
“If you’re planning on traveling where there has been Zika, we do recommend you wear your mosquito repellent, you wear clothing that is protective as much as possible in the warm climates, and avoid being outside when mosquitoes are really active at dawn and dusk”, Michelle continues.
The brain scans showed not all babies with microcephaly had brain abnormalities – out of 27 newborns scanned, only seven showed presence of brain abnormalities, something the researchers remarked on.
The Zika virus is part of the same family as the viruses that cause yellow fever, West Nile, Chikungunya and dengue. “However, many questions still remain to be answered including the role of previous dengue infection”.
Gov. Rick Scott is allocating $10 million more in state money to fight Zika after Congress failed to act on his funding request this week in Washington. However, the researchers note there was no significant difference between mothers of babies with microcephaly and mothers of control babies.
“Infants might be diagnosed with microcephaly when in fact they are globally small-ie, small for gestational age, without true isolated microcephaly”, Brasil wrote in a commentary. Of course there is the known birth defect that Zika has been linked to called microcephaly.
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If no one new is infected in Wynwood by Monday, after the 45-day period that represents three full incubation periods for Zika virus, it can be declared free of active Zika transmission.
