Colombia researchers discover first cases of Zika virus linked to birth defects

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/04/colombia-researchers-discover-zika-virus-link-birth-defects



Colombia researchers discover first cases of Zika virus linked to birth defects


Friday 4 March 2016 14.29 EST Last modified on Friday 4 March 2016 14.58 EST


Researchers in Colombia have discovered the country’s first cases of birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. One researcher in the city of Sincelejo in northern Colombia diagnosed one newborn child with microcephaly. Two other children were born with congenital brain abnormalities, according to Nature. All three tested positive for the Zika virus. Dr Wilmer Villamil, of the Sincelejo University hospital, who made the diagnosis of microcephaly, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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With more than 42,000 cases of Zika infection, including 7,653 in pregnant women, Colombia had until now not confirmed any cases of birth defects related to the virus, although Brazil has seen a marked rise in areas where the disease is widespread.

However, the dimensions of the surge in microcephaly in Brazil are not yet clear. Some 5,909 microcephaly cases have been reported since November, a month after the Zika outbreak there was detected, and only 82 have been confirmed to be Zika-related.

Colombia, which sounded the alarm over possible microcephaly, and recommended women put off pregnancy before the first case was found, could be better prepared to study the links between the birth defect and Zika by establishing a baseline for the annual numbers of birth defects.
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The new work provides experimental evidence that once the virus reaches the developing brain, it can infect and harm cells that are key for further brain development, said Hengli Tang of Florida State University, a lead author of the work, which was released Friday by the journal Cell Stem Cell. But he stressed that his study does not prove that Zika causes microcephaly, nor that it works by that route. A number of other viruses are known to trigger the condition.
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