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Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-pers...evel-heart-defects-found-zika-affected-babies
High level of heart defects found in Zika-affected babies
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 21, 2017
Echocardiography evaluation of a group of Brazilian babies with Zika-related birth defects found three times the expected rate of congenital heart disease (CHD), but only one infant had symptoms and most had minor septal defects that weren't hemodynamically significant.
The study is the first time CHD has been assessed in infants with congenital Zika infections, and so far there haven't been any reports of autopsy findings suggesting a connection, but other flaviviruses such as dengue have been associated with myocarditis and pericarditis.
[h=3]Though defects minor, follow-up needed[/h] Researchers from the city of Recife in Brazil's Pernambuco state evaluated 103 babies with presumed congenital Zika infections from September 2015 through March 2016. They published their findings yesterday in Public Library of Science (PLoS) One.
All infants met Brazil's health ministry case definition, and all had microcephaly and positive cranial imaging findings. Zika Immunoglobulin M antibodies were found in the spinal fluid of 23 infants; the test wasn't available during evaluation for the others. Blood tests ruled out other infections such as rubella and cytomegalovirus.
Echocardiograms suggested CHD in 14 (13.5%) of the 103 infants. Tests considered normal included 45 with persistent foramen ovale and 16 with minimum patent ductus arteriosus.
Almost all infants had minimal septal defects, with only one case involving dyspnea and a large membranous ventral septal defect. All atrial septal defects were of the size doctors expect to decrease or close on follow-up.
Researchers said it's not clear if Zika-affected infants have the same rates of spontaneous regression as unaffected babies. They emphasized that their results are preliminary and based on a small sample size.
The babies will be followed with repeat echocardiography at 1 year to see if the small defects they saw spontaneously improved.
[h=3]US Zika babies, diagnostics funding, drug study[/h]
Apr 20 PLoS One abstract
Apr 20 CDC Zika pregnancy registry outcomes update
Apr 20 UNC press release
Apr 20 bioRxiv abstract
High level of heart defects found in Zika-affected babies
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Apr 21, 2017
Echocardiography evaluation of a group of Brazilian babies with Zika-related birth defects found three times the expected rate of congenital heart disease (CHD), but only one infant had symptoms and most had minor septal defects that weren't hemodynamically significant.
The study is the first time CHD has been assessed in infants with congenital Zika infections, and so far there haven't been any reports of autopsy findings suggesting a connection, but other flaviviruses such as dengue have been associated with myocarditis and pericarditis.
[h=3]Though defects minor, follow-up needed[/h] Researchers from the city of Recife in Brazil's Pernambuco state evaluated 103 babies with presumed congenital Zika infections from September 2015 through March 2016. They published their findings yesterday in Public Library of Science (PLoS) One.
All infants met Brazil's health ministry case definition, and all had microcephaly and positive cranial imaging findings. Zika Immunoglobulin M antibodies were found in the spinal fluid of 23 infants; the test wasn't available during evaluation for the others. Blood tests ruled out other infections such as rubella and cytomegalovirus.
Echocardiograms suggested CHD in 14 (13.5%) of the 103 infants. Tests considered normal included 45 with persistent foramen ovale and 16 with minimum patent ductus arteriosus.
Almost all infants had minimal septal defects, with only one case involving dyspnea and a large membranous ventral septal defect. All atrial septal defects were of the size doctors expect to decrease or close on follow-up.
Researchers said it's not clear if Zika-affected infants have the same rates of spontaneous regression as unaffected babies. They emphasized that their results are preliminary and based on a small sample size.
The babies will be followed with repeat echocardiography at 1 year to see if the small defects they saw spontaneously improved.
[h=3]US Zika babies, diagnostics funding, drug study[/h]
- Two more babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, raising the total to 58, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. The number of Zika-related pregnancy losses remained at seven. So far 1,367 women in the CDC's Zika pregnancy registry have delivered their babies.
- A research team based at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill has received a $3.2 million contract from the CDC to develop better serologic tests for detecting past exposure to Zika virus, the UNC said yesterday in a press release. The group also includes scientists from Duke University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Nicaragua.
- Mice experimentally infected with Zika virus and treated with the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir had reduced deaths and short- and long-term problems, according to a study by a group from Brazil's Fiocruz Institute published yesterday on bioRxiv, a prepublication Web portal for scientific studies. The drug was associated with reduced viral loads and reduced spread to other body areas, and follow-up showed treatment seemed to prevent memory loss in the animals.
Apr 20 PLoS One abstract
Apr 20 CDC Zika pregnancy registry outcomes update
Apr 20 UNC press release
Apr 20 bioRxiv abstract