Sentences with phrase «microcephaly cases»

Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO, said Monday that the explosive growth of microcephaly cases in Brazil constitutes an «extraordinary event and a public health threat to other parts of the world.»

Addressing the Zika outbreaks has been a challenge for health officials, and since the first microcephaly cases were reported in Brazil last year, there has been a nationwide effort to find practical solutions to the growing threat of the virus.

Faria et al show that samples from microcephaly cases are distributed around the evolutionary tree, which strongly argues against (although again can't absolutely disprove) this idea.

The researchers now estimate that Colombia could see 200 more microcephaly cases in the next two to three months.

Brazilian officials suspect the country has thousands of microcephaly cases tied to Zika.

Researchers have already documented an increase of microcephaly cases coinciding with the outbreak and have found evidence of the virus in brains of newborns who died, as well as in fluid from the placenta of infected pregnant women.

They found an increase in microcephaly cases and of Guillain - Barré syndrome.

He said researchers have undertaken studies to answer some of those questions in Brazil, where the number of microcephaly cases is highest.

That state has seen at least 487 microcephaly cases so far this year, compared with an average of 10 cases annually between 2010 and 2014.

Researchers this year linked the upsurge in microcephaly cases in Brazil to the mosquito - borne Zika virus.

An association between Zika infections during pregnancy and the birth of babies with microcephaly (a birth defect in which an infant's brain does not develop properly resulting in a smaller than normal head) was first suggested by Brazilian physicians in August 2015, and in November microcephaly cases potentially associated with Zika started to be recorded; three months later WHO made its announcement.

Colombia's dramatic uptick in microcephaly cases follows one reported in Brazil, which, in 2015, experienced a ninefold increase in cases compared with the previous 14 years.

Earlier this year, the country's tally of microcephaly cases seemed smaller than expected, given the reported rise in Zika infections.

The news, reported in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), may help resolve a puzzle: After Brazil, Colombia is the country that has been hardest hit by the mosquito - borne disease, yet it appeared to have far fewer microcephaly cases per capita than its southern neighbor.

November 2015: Brazilian officials declare a public health emergency after seeing an extreme uptick in microcephaly cases in newborns.

«The rise of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders in the affected regions is extremely worrying,» he said.

«There is no evidence linking any vaccine to the increases in microcephaly cases that were observed first in French Polynesia during the 2013 - 2014 outbreak and more recently in northeastern Brazil,» the WHO said in a statement.

Transmission electron microscope image of negative - stained, Fortaleza - strain Zika virus (red), isolated from a microcephaly case in Brazil.

Not exact matches

It claimed that a pesticide being used to kill mosquitoes was linked to the cases of microcephaly, not the Zika virus itself.

This appears to be the first US case of a baby born with microcephaly, a condition in which the brain is abnormally small, after having a Zika infection.

The agency said there have been recent variations in the number of cases reported in the region and, while the level of risk is unknown, Zika virus infection during pregnancy causes severe birth defects, including microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities.

The outbreak of Zika, a mosquito - borne disease, was detected last year in Brazil, where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infection in the mothers.

It has been linked to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.

Given the latest outbreak of the Zika virus this year, we know that in some cases contraceptives are imperative to reduce incidences of birth defects, like microcephaly.

She said Brazil had registered more than 4,700 suspected cases of microcephaly and a quarter was only studied for the moment.

Menabde said currently 34 countries had reported the Zika virus outbreak, mostly in the Americas and Caribbean, and seven reported an increase in cases of microcephaly.

She said before the outbreak of the virus, the average number of microcephaly every year was just 163 cases.

But health officials suspect it may be behind a surge in cases of microcephaly, a condition which causes babies to develop abnormally small brains and skulls — leading to permanent disability or death.

Among the 42 Zika - infected women in the study, 12 were carrying fetuses with severe abnormalities, including absence or withering of brain structures, tissue death, restricted growth and, in one case, microcephaly.

«We've been seeing growing evidence of the association between Zika and congenital central nervous system malformations, not just microcephaly, since the first cases were picked up,» says Wim Van Bortel, senior expert on vector - borne diseases at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Solna, Sweden.

Brazil said on Friday the number of confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil associated with the Zika virus has risen to 5,131 from 4,976 a week earlier.

The WHO in February declared the Zika virus an international public health emergency due to its association in Brazil with suspected cases of microcephaly in babies.

It is known that Zika can cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in babies born to women infected with the virus, and Guillain - Barré syndrome, a neurological condition that can lead to muscle weakness and, in severe cases, paralysis.

In contrast, the latest World Health Organization (WHO) «situation report,» with data current to 7 December, said that Colombia had only reported 60 cases of microcephaly or central nervous system malformations potentially linked to Zika.

The MMWR update, co-authored by scientists from CDC and Colombia's ministry of health and national institute of health, offers «preliminary information» about 476 cases of microcephaly identified over the last 11 months.

«The majority of cases of microcephaly and other central nervous system defects are still undergoing investigation to determine whether they are linked to Zika virus infection during pregnancy,» a CDC spokesperson told ScienceInsider.

He said Colombian health authorities would have to address questions about the timing of their reporting Zika - positive cases of microcephaly to WHO.

One theory is that the Zika — microcephaly connection previously flew under the radar because there were too few cases to see the link.

He continues, «There is a clear temporal association between the increased reporting of cases of microcephaly and of GBS and the Zika virus outbreak.

In Brazil, the country hit hardest by the epidemic so far, there have been 6,906 suspected cases of microcephaly as of April 2, 2016.

Boston Atlantic Photography Cases of both Zika virus and microcephaly — the potentially...

Reliable diagnostic criteria for the identification of cases of microcephaly are also still required.»

The finding of virus in the brain could also be important, since the most devastating impact of the current outbreak in Brazil appears to be children of infected mothers born with microcephaly — abnormally small heads and, in some cases, incomplete brain development.

As of March 30, the CDC has reported 312 cases of the Zika virus in the United States and heightened its efforts in response to Zika and the cases of microcephaly and other neurological disorders associated with the virus.

But the Brazilian government is now warning that the virus may be responsible for a dramatic increase in cases of microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which the brain fails to develop properly and the head is much smaller than normal.

In tandem with the declaration, the committee made two major recommendations: Standardize surveillance for microcephaly and other neurological disorders in places where Zika is spreading, and intensify research to discern whether the clusters of cases are truly linked to the virus.

Although Brazil has had more than 4000 suspected cases of microcephaly, it has confirmed only 270 cases of this brain - damaging condition in children born to mothers who had evidence of having been infected with the virus.

The study comes in the wake of an ongoing Zika epidemic and an explosion of cases involving fetal death, microcephaly (born with severely decreased head size), and other congenital birth defects.

A particular cause for concern was the increasing number of cases of brain malformations in newborns (microcephaly).