CDC: strongest evidence so far of a possible link between Zika and birth defects

[Gert van der Hoek]

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[TD="class: mdColumn brnd"]Jan. 13, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says researchers have found the strongest evidence so far
for a possible link between a mosquito-borne virus and a surge of birth defects in Brazil.

The CDC said Wednesday that researchers found the dengue-like Zika virus in the babies of two women who miscarried
and two newborns who died. Those who were born had small heads, a rare condition known as microcephaly.

CDC's director of mosquito-borne diseases is Dr. Lyle Petersen and he says that finding the virus in brain tissue is "very significant."

Brazil's government says 3,530 babies have been born with microcephaly in the country since October.

The number was less than 150 in 2014.


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[h=1]CDC: Strong signs Brazil birth defects are tied to mosquito[/h] [/TD]
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[Gert van der Hoek]

Zika virus likely tied to Brazil?s surge in babies born with small heads, CDC says​

By HELEN BRANSWELL

JANUARY 13, 2016

New test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide the best evidence to date that a mosquito-borne virus is causing Brazil’s alarming rise in babies born with abnormally underdeveloped heads, a top official said Wednesday.

The results are not definitive proof that Zika virus infections during pregnancy are causing some women to give birth to babies with microcephaly, but they add to mounting evidence that the large wave of infections that began in Brazil last May is linked to the extraordinary increase in microcephaly cases.

“"I wouldn’t use [the term] smoking gun, but what I would say is that these data provide the strongest evidence to date of a possible link between Zika virus and microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities",” Dr. Lyle Petersen, the director of the CDC’s division of vector-borne diseases, told STAT.

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