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WORLD NEWSMonday 28 December 2015
Brazil fears birth defects linked to mosquito-borne virus
ADRIANA LICON the Zika virus that infected beginning of an epidem- pregnant during the rainy related to microcephaly.
Associated Press Pereira, though interna- ic in a country that has season when mosquitoes Suspicion arose after of-
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In tional experts caution it’s in between 200,000 and are most prevalent. ficials recorded 17 cases
the early weeks of Angel- far too early to be sure and 300,000 births per year, “All the women I see at of central nervous system
ica Pereira’s pregnancy, note the condition can which shows how wor- the hospital or in my of- malformations among fe-
a mosquito bite began have many other causes. ried we are. It’s a virus we fice who are pregnant or tuses and newborns after
bothering her. At first it Brazil alone estimates it’s don’t know that much wanting to get pregnant a Zika outbreak began last
seemed a small thing. But year in French Polynesia,
the next day she awoke Dejailson Arruda holds his daughter Luiza at their house in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, according to the Europe-
with a rash, a headache, a an Center for Disease Pre-
fever and a burning in her Pernambuco state, Brazil. Luiza was born in October with a rare condition, known as vention and Control.
eyes. The symptoms disap- And in November, Brazil-
peared within four days, microcephaly. Luiza’s mother Angelica Pereira was infected with the Zika virus after a mosquito ian researchers reported
but she fears the virus has the Zika virus genome had
left lasting consequences. bite. Brazilian health authorities are convinced that Luiza’s condition is related to the Zika virus been found in amniotic flu-
Pereira’s daughter Luiza id samples from two wom-
was born in October with that infected her mother during pregnancy. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) en whose fetuses were
a head more than an inch been diagnosed with mi-
(3 centimeters) below the already had between about,” said Rodrigo Sta- are very alarmed, almost crocephaly by ultrasound
range defined as healthy 440,000 and 1.3 million beli, vice president of the panicky,” she said. exams. Brazil announced
by doctors, a rare condi- cases of Zika since the first Rio de Janeiro-based Fio- The Zika virus, first detected on Nov. 28 that research-
tion known as microceph- local transmission of the vi- cruz research institute. in humans about 40 years ers had found the Zika virus
aly that often results in rus was detected in May. “We are preparing for the ago in Uganda, has long present in brain tissue of a
mental retardation. A neu- The mosquito-borne dis- unknown.” seen as a less-painful cous- newborn with microceph-
rologist soon gave Pereira ease was first identified in Brazilians are so concerned in to dengue and chikun- aly who died.
and her husband more the Americas less than two that some obstetricians, guya, which are spread by As more evidence arose
bad news: The brain dam- years ago and has spread such as Helga Monaco the same Aedes mosquito. from further Brazilian tests,
age had caused cerebral rapidly across South and at Sao Paulo’s Samarita- Until a few months ago, in- PAHO and the World
palsy. Central America. no Hospital, recommend vestigators had no report- Health Organization re-
“My heart stopped. All I “We are looking at the women avoid becoming ed evidence it might be cently urged officials in
kept thinking about was all the Americas to watch
the struggles and discrimi- for possible neurological
nation my baby will suffer,” problems or congenital
said Pereira, a 20-year-old malformations elsewhere
seamstress who lives in related to cases of Zika.
Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, While there’s never before
a small, garment-manu- been a detected link be-
facturing city in northeast tween the virus and micro-
Brazil. cephaly, “there has never
More than 2,700 babies been an epidemic of Zika
have been born in Bra- in the proportions that we
zil with microcephaly this are looking at now in Bra-
year, up from fewer than zil,” said Pedro Fernando
150 in 2014. Brazil’s health Vasconcelos, a researcher
officials say they’re con- at Evandro Chagas Insti-
vinced the jump is linked tute who found the virus in
to a sudden outbreak of the newborn child.q
