Thursday January 7th 2016. During the last two years, the number of babies in Brazil born with microcephaly has increased. The rise is alarming, from 200 to almost 3.000. The regions where the most births with this pathology were registered are now in state of emergency. Scientific studies reveal a bond between the sudden rise in microcephaly with an epidemic of Zika virus, transmitted through infected mosquito bites. Brazilian authorities estimate that approximately 1.5 million people have been affected by this virus since May 2015.
The Zika virus comes with itching, rashes, fever and pinkeye; it rarely causes death in patients. However, many people are asymptomatic, despite having contracted the virus; which is why the doctors brand it a ‘benign disease’.
This situation is causing panic in the Brazilian population, especially in pregnant women; since they are at risk of their children being born with microcephaly. Suspicions are based on the placentas of micro cephalic children being infected with the Zika virus; thus the researchers believe that, in some way, the two pathologies are connected.
Doctors noticed that in November 2015, when Zika started spreading; microcephaly in newborns also showed a similar behavior. Afterwards, they found out that during pregnancy, the mothers of these babies presented symptoms of mild fever, rashes and headaches.
A latent danger like this, Claudio Maierovitch, head of the Department of Vigilance for Transmittable Diseases in the Brazilian Ministry of Health; advised women living in the most affected states to postpone their planned pregnancies to a later date when the danger has already passed.
Zika has spread all across Africa, parts of Asia and some Latin-American countries such as: Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and most recently Puerto Rico. However, there hasn’t been an increase in microcephaly in these countries. This fact staggers the scientists, since they can’t establish the exact link between the two diseases in the affected areas of Brazil.
Microcephaly is a neurological disorder in which the head of a person is smaller in size than normal, according to factors such as age and gender. The size of the head can be measured even from the womb. Even though a baby may present normal values at birth, the growth of the brain stagnates; thus the cranium stops growing as well, while the face continues progressing normally.
As the child grows, their cranium’s diminutive size is more and more evident; likewise it is common for patients to develop dwarfism, low weight and impaired motor and linguistic skills. The deficiency in their skills is significant in clumsiness and in worst cases, spastic quadriplegia.
ALFA