Other viruses such as rubella and cytomegalovirus (CMV) that can trigger
microcephaly when contracted in the womb also lead to hearing loss in some cases.
For example, MCPH1 and ASPM cause
microcephaly when mutated, FOXP2 causes speech defects, and all three show signs of selection pressure during human, but not chimp, evolution.
Not exact matches
When the virus infects a pregnant woman, it can cause a variety of birth defects including
microcephaly, where the baby's head is abnormally small.
The possibility that the Zika virus causes
microcephaly — unusually small heads and damaged brains — emerged only in October 2015,
when doctors in northern Brazil noticed a surge in babies with the condition.
Sometimes they are catastrophic, most notably
when they cause
microcephaly in some babies born to infected mothers.
Zika made international headlines
when it was linked to an epidemic of babies born with
microcephaly in Brazil.
When a pregnant woman is infected, the virus can cause an increased risk of birth defects, including
microcephaly.
For example, it recommends testing for the virus
when babies have
microcephaly and their mothers traveled to or lived in Zika - virus regions while pregnant.
Not unsurprisingly given the fact that
microcephaly has not been associated with dengue, the neurospheres survived much better than
when infected with Zika and the brain organoids showed no reduction in growth
when compared to the controls.
Lancaster and Knoblich published their work in Nature in 2013, at a time
when microcephaly was still rare.
When created from the stem cells of a patient with
microcephaly, the brains - in - a-dish resembled that often - fatal condition; those created from cells of patients with severe autism indicated that out - of - control neuron growth is the underlying cause of that disorder.
Contracted through the bite of an infected mosquito or through sexual or other modes of transmission, Zika virus (ZIKV) infection can be prenatally passed from mother to fetus.1 The virus was first identified in the region of the Americas in early 2015,
when local transmission was reported in Brazil.2 Six months later, a notable increase in the number of infants with congenital
microcephaly was observed in northeast Brazil.3, 4 Clinical, epidemiologic, and laboratory evidence led investigators to conclude that intrauterine ZIKV infection was a cause of
microcephaly and serious brain anomalies.5 - 7 However, as with other newly recognized teratogens, these features likely represent a portion of a broader spectrum.
The most devastating of these defects is
microcephaly —
when infants are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.
Microcephaly or postnatal
microcephaly, which is
when a baby is born with, or within 6 - 12 months has, a very small head and brain.
«There was one special needs boy with
microcephaly in my classroom who hadn't spoken in 10 years and
when I pushed him on the swing in the playground he counted to 10 for me and brought me and the teacher to tears.»