Researchers Discover Frightening Threat Posed By Zika
Researchers at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in the United States have reportedly made a shocking discovery regarding microcephaly, a birth defect caused by the Zika virus.
Microcephaly is a rare nervous system disorder that causes a baby’s head to be small and not fully developed.
The child’s brain stops growing as it should.
Until very recently, the general consensus among researchers was that babies were most vulnerable to the virus when a woman was infected during the early stages of pregnancy.
However, in a newly described formed of the condition being called late-onset microcephaly, babies seemingly have normal sized heads when they are born, only for their brains to later stop growing.
In these cases, by 6 months of age they reportedly develop microcephaly as a result of their head not keeping up with normal growth.
As at August 5, 2016, Jamaica’s Ministry of Health has received close to 6,000 notifications for the zika virus, of which four thousand two hundred and fourteen (4,214) or seventy percent (73%) fit the case definition for Zika and were classified as “Suspected Zika”.
Women in Jamaica and several countries around the world have been encouraged to delay pregnancy in light of the serious threats being posed by the Zika virus.
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