More symptoms are found to be brought to newborn by Zika virus

The latest study conducted by American and Brazilian scientists showed that the Zika virus may cause fetal developmental abnormalities disorder which is not limited to neonatal microcephaly, hydranencephaly and stillbirth, and also includes fetal brain calcification, placental insufficiency, amniotic fluid, fetal growth retardation, central nervous system damage and congenital blindness.

The research results on the 4th published in the journal New England Journal of Medicine. Fiocruz from University of California, Los Angeles and biomedical research institution in Brazil Rio de Janeiro conducted follow-up study on 88 pregnant women in a clinic and reached the conclusions mentioned above. Among these 88 pregnant women, 72 people of them had been confirmed infected with Zika virus, 42 of which agreed to receive ultrasonic inspection. Among them, 12 pregnant women were found fetal abnormalities during the inspection.

In eight already-produced pregnant women, only 2 women gave birth to fetuses with normal fetal development; two of them gave birth to stillbirth; two fetuses was born with less weight than normal; one fetus showed apparent head disease as well as ocular dysfunction, which is likely to be congenitally blind; and the last fetus was taken out with emergency cesarean delivery operation after the researchers found there were no amniotic fluid in matrix.

Los Angeles School of Medicine Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and the study leader at University of California Karin Nelson said, "We found that there is a strong association between Zika virus and abnormal fetal development and it has not yet been confirmed before. Even the fetus doesn't affect by the virus, the placenta seems to be damaged, which may result in stillbirth."

Nelson said the majority of these women got the Zika virus infection in the first six months of pregnancy, and some of them were infected three months before infection. Two pregnant women who gave birth to stillbirth showed no abnormal signs in the early and mid-pregnancy ultrasound examination.

Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 in Uganda. It has symptoms similar to dengue fever, including fever, rash, headache, joint pain, muscle pain and non-purulent conjunctivitis. Zika is not a deadly virus and about 80% of those infected show no obvious symptoms.

Since last year, Zika virus has spread quickly in Africa, where nearly 30 countries and regions have reported the discovery of the virus. Although scientists have not yet confirmed the Zika virus is a direct cause of neonatal microcephaly, Zika virus outbreaks in Brazil and more than 640 cases have been diagnosed with microcephaly in recent newborn and there are another 4200 cases of suspected cases. Researchers suspect that the majority of the cases are related with the mother infection of Zika virus.

The research results of study published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases last month by Yale University researchers show that Zika virus may have other hazards besides microcephaly in newborns, as well as hydranencephaly and stillbirth. When medical personnel concerns microcephaly, it is also necessary for them to guard against hydranencephaly and stillbirth, etc., which means that Zika infections may be more than we have known.

Learn more: http://www.cusabio.com/ELISA-Kit/Plant-arachidonic-Acid-AA-ELISA-kit-1080384.html