Zika infection has been linked to numerous cases in Brazil of the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems.
Advertisement
According to the study, in 29 percent of the women who tested positive for Zika, ultrasounds found significant abnormalities in their fetuses.
Colombia, seen as a key test case of the impact of the virus, has 42,706 cases of Zika, including 7653 pregnant women. But it raised alarm when Brazilian health officials reported an apparent surge in babies born with microcephaly, which can signal their brains didn’t develop properly. The study, which was reportedly published in the New England Journal of Medicine Friday, found complications that included fetal death, calcification of the brain, fetal growth restriction and central nervous system damage, including potential blindness.
Noting more confirmatory epidemiologic data is still needed from Zika endemic areas, Alyssa Stephenson-Famy, assistant professor at the University of Washington, said: “This is exactly the kind of research that we need to demonstrate a causative link and mechanism between the Zika virus and microcephaly”.
No other Bay Area county has recorded a Zika virus case, though one county official said it’s only a matter of time. Adalja wasn’t part of the study.
“These were women infected in the first and second trimester of pregnancy”, Dr. Karin Nielsen, lead author of the study, told Reuters.
Since the outbreak that has swept through the Americas first emerged, scientists in Brazil have raised concerns over a possible link between Zika and the birth abnormality, known as microcephaly.
The exams did uncover some abnormal brain development.
Professor of biological science Hengli Tang at The Florida State University said: “We’re trying to fill the knowledge gap between infection and the neurological defects”.
The scientists took lab-grown neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells – the building blocks of the brain – and infected them with the Zika virus in culture dishes. If such a substance can be turned into a drug, it might be useful to give to pregnant women in high-risk areas who’ve been bitten by mosquitoes, he said.
“The only infection that would explain what is happening is the Zika virus”, he said on Friday.
Advertisement
Zika virus has also been linked to Gullain-Barre symptom.
