Doctors find more potential birth defects from Zika

Since the Zika threat first surfaced last October, medical experts have maintained a tentative link between the vector-borne virus and microcephaly, a severe birth defect resulting in abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. As research on the mysterious virus mounts, some say Zika damage in infants could be far more subtle than a shrunken skull.

“Microcephaly is only the tip of the iceberg, only the thing we see when the baby is born,” said Dr. Vanessa van der Linden, a pediatric neurologist in Recife, Brazil, at a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting.

In Brazil, the epicenter of the outbreak, doctors are beginning to note delayed onset of virus-linked maladies in newborns who first appear neurotypical. At birth, the infant’s head measures normally. But by five or six months of age, the child shows evidence of neurological damage: atypical skull growth, muscle spasms, seizures, or the ability to move one hand but not the other. A physician in Puerto Rico noted eye problems and vision loss in some babies born to Zika-infected mothers even without a microcephaly diagnosis.

In recent weeks, NIH child health agency researchers announced the launch of a new study in Zika hotspots with a plan to enroll 10,000 women in the first trimester of pregnancy and track all babies for at least 12 months. Some mothers in the study will be Zika-free, and others will arrive infected, allowing a comparison of the resulting health problems.

It is unclear how long Zika-affected babies will need to be monitored by health professionals. “I can’t say at this moment. … This is new for us,” said Dr. Catherine Spong of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Pediatric neurologists and child health experts agree intense, ongoing evaluation of babies born to Zika-infected mothers is necessary.

Developing a Zika vaccine is “a public health imperative,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. While no treatment currently exists, several inoculations are in the clinical-trial stage.

Last week, Congress passed a budget bill granting $1.1 billion to address the Zika crisis. The bill was tangled in partisan debate for months, partly due to controversial elements in the legislation, including whether Planned Parenthood establishments in Puerto Rico would have access to federal funds.

Researchers resent the holdup: “Because we’ve had to wait these seven months, we haven’t been able to get a running start on some of the critically important studies to understand more fully the impacts of Zika,” Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters. For researchers and infected individuals alike, Zika remains difficult to pin down. Only 20 percent of people with Zika experience symptoms, which are mild, short-lived, and easy to ignore: slight fever, skin rash, joint pain, and red eyes.

Pregnant women make up nearly 9 percent of the documented Zika infections in U.S. states and territories, with the highest concentration in Puerto Rico. In the continental states, 21 babies have been born with defects directly linked to Zika, according to recent CDC counts.