A mystery no more as Brazilian researchers published the first ever case-control study that strengthened the link between the dreaded Zika virus and microcephaly, a birth defect that may lead to neurological problems and abnormally small heads of infants.
In 2015, when the first Zika virus outbreak overwhelmed Brazil and neighboring countries, a lot of people were confused about what the mosquito-borne virus can do to the body. However, with the sudden surge of birth defects linked to the infection, the world feared that if the spread of the virus would not be stemmed, it could lead to more babies born with microcephaly.
However, the link between the two had been unclear, until recently. Scientists in Brazil have produced the first ever case-control study on the strong link between the Zika virus and microcephaly. The study, ordered by Brazil's health ministry because of the outbreak in 2015, included all infants born with the birth defect in eight public hospitals in Pernambuco state between Jan. 14 and May 2.
The Missing Piece Of The Zika-Microcephaly Puzzle
Early findings of the study, which was published in the journal The Lancet, confirmed a direct causal link between Zika virus infection and microcephaly in infants. However, the early results were just from the first 32 cases from an expected full analysis of all 200 cases and 400 controls. Despite this, the early results are striking.
After analyzing blood samples and spinal fluid from all infants with microcephaly and blood samples from mothers for evidence of Zika infection, they found that among the 30 mothers of babies with microcephaly, 80 percent had a previous Zika virus infection.
Furthermore, 41 percent of the babies with microcephaly had laboratory-confirmed Zika virus compared to none in all the 62 healthy babies. One of the catchy results of the study shows that among the 27 babies with microcephaly who had brain scans, only 7 of them had abnormalities.
"Although there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly, the early findings from this case-control study are the missing pieces of the jigsaw in terms of proving the link," according to Laura Rodrigues, an infectious disease expert at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who was part of the study.
The study sheds light on the need for urgent preventive and active measures to curb the spread of the virus. The Zika virus has now spread to various Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
