Zika virus can lead to extensive birth defects that go beyond microcephaly.
A study conducted in Brazil suggested that Zika virus carried by mosquitoes cause extensive birth defects other than microcephaly, especially among newborns.
Researchers from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro studied 11 babies diagnosed with Zika. They have found they had a range of neurological impairments including small skulls and brains.
Many babies also had an underdeveloped cerebellum and an absence of normal folds in the cerebral cortex.
According to senior study author Dr Amilcar Tanuri, a researcher in the laboratory of molecular virology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, ‘Microcephaly is not the only thing that happens with fetal Zika infection.’ Instead, Zika should be considered a congenital viral disease like rubella or cytomegalovirus, Tanuri said.
‘Some babies do not survive and the ones that survive carry several developmental or cognitive delays or deficits,’ Tanuri added.
According to the World Health Organization, Zika has been reported in at least 59 countries and territories since it first appeared in the Americas last year in Brazil.
So far, there are more than 25,000 cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the United States and its territories. Included here are more than 2,300 involving pregnant women.
Zika virus has been linked to thousands of babies being born with microcephaly, a condition where babies have small brains and small head.
In the said study, Zika virus was identified in amniotic fluid, placenta, cord blood and neonatal tissues collected postmortem because three of the 11 babies died within 48 hours of delivery and two mothers consented to autopsies.
Perinatal mortality rate of about 27 percent was the result of the recorded deaths.
The remaining infants were followed by researchers from gestation to 6 months old.
Researchers also tested for other causes of microcephaly, such as genetic disorders and infections, and results were negative. Instead, the Zika virus genome was found in the tissues of both the mothers and their babies.