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Brazil links Zika fever to birth defects
Topic Started: 30 Nov 2015, 12:25 AM (34 Views)
skibboy
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Brazil links Zika fever to birth defects

29 November 2015

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Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are carriers of the yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya viruses as well as Zika

The Brazilian health ministry has confirmed a link between a mosquito-borne virus from Africa, Zika Fever, and a high incidence of birth defects.

The fever, it said, is behind a spike in cases of micro-encephalitis - an inflammation of the brain contracted in the first months of pregnancy.

It has recorded two adult deaths and 739 cases of the disease, which can stunt the growth of the foetus's head.

A World Health Organization team arrives in Brazil next week.

The ministry said doctors had found Zika virus in the blood and tissue of a baby with micro-encephalitis in the north-eastern state of Ceara.

It said it was also the first time in the world that adult deaths from Zika virus had been registered.

Most cases have been in the north-east of Brazil but cases also rapidly appeared in the south-east, in Rio and Sao Paulo.

The first confirmed case of death was of a man in the city of Belem, in Para state, who was being treated for Lupus, a disease of the immune system.

The second case, also in Para, was of a 16-year-old girl who was admitted with suspected Dengue fever but who was found to have died of Zika.

The virus was first detected in Brazil in April and has spread rapidly to 18 states.

It appears relatively harmless at first, causing a rash and a fever for a few days.

But ministry officials have issued warnings to women to think carefully about getting pregnant at the moment in areas where there are Zika fever cases.

Zika is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, also known to carry the yellow fever, dengue and chikungunya viruses.

The ministry said Zika had become a serious risk to public health and that Brazil must embark on an emergency programme to control the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the virus's spread.

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skibboy
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30 November 2015

Mosquitos spread microcephaly disease in Brazil

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© AFP/File | Mosquitos carrying the dengue-like Zika virus are spreading microcephaly, which also curbs mental development in the baby

BRASÍLIA (AFP) - Cases of microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads, are skyrocketing in Brazil and the discovery that mosquitoes carry the disease means there are few ways to stop it, officials said Monday.

Latest figures show 1,248 cases this year, compared to just 147 last year, said the health ministry.

Complicating the situation is the revelation that mosquitos carrying the dengue-like Zika virus are spreading microcephaly, which also curbs mental development in the baby, Claudio Maierovitch, director of the epidemiology department at the health ministry, said.

"The control of the sickness depends on control of the transmitter, in this case the mosquito," he said.

"There is currently no specific treatment for the Zika virus," Maierovitch said. "That is what worries the Brazilian government."

Zika, which is related to dengue, has been detected in 14 of Brazil's 27 states this year.

Microcephaly is seen as an alarming new trend which threatens women especially in the first three months of pregnancy.

The health ministry is in talks with the World Health Organization and two US specialists are expected to arrive in Brazil within days.

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