The Ministry of Health in Brazil has confirmed that there is a link between the Zika virus, spread by the same mosquito which causes dengue fever (Aedes aegypti), and the alarming number of cases of microcephaly in newborn children.
The birth defect has increased significantly this year, especially in the Northeastern part of the country.
“It is an unique situation in the global scientific research sphere,” said a release issued by the Ministry, after a newborn who later died was found to be carrying the virus.
“This is the first link of a death related to the Zika virus in the world. (The virus) is similar to that of dengue fever,” stated the Ministry.
Brazilian health authorities are on high alert after an alarming number of babies were born with brain damage caused by the Zika virus.
As of 21 November, 739 cases of microcephaly, a condition associated with underdeveloped brains, were being investigated in nine northeastern states, according to the World Health Organization.
“It was already known that the virus affects the nervous system, but until now we didn’t know it could cause foetal malformations,” says Rivaldo Venâncio da Cunha, an infectious diseases researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil.
“We found the virus in the amniotic liquid of two women pregnant with microcephalic babies, which is a strong indication that the virus can cause problems if a woman is infected in the first trimester of the pregnancy.”
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