Wow, as if on cue - http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pregna...ms8b4.html.
This is horrible. As I understand it, microcephaly is difficult to detect in the womb save in extreme cases. The mother-to-be must be devastated. Let's hope Flyboy is right and the virus doesn't cause the condition. The other thing is that one map I saw indicated that countries in South and Central America had reported an increase in microcephaly concomitant with the spread of the virus but the same thing hasn't necessarily been reported in the Asian countries to our north which suffer from the virus. Could there be 2 strains? If so, let's hope this is the less problematic one.
If Australia has recorded a number of Zika infections, it's only a matter of time until the US does too and pregnant women there contract it.
PS: Here's an update which details a new study and also suggests that mutations of the virus are feared by scientists:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/z...=australia
This is horrible. As I understand it, microcephaly is difficult to detect in the womb save in extreme cases. The mother-to-be must be devastated. Let's hope Flyboy is right and the virus doesn't cause the condition. The other thing is that one map I saw indicated that countries in South and Central America had reported an increase in microcephaly concomitant with the spread of the virus but the same thing hasn't necessarily been reported in the Asian countries to our north which suffer from the virus. Could there be 2 strains? If so, let's hope this is the less problematic one.
If Australia has recorded a number of Zika infections, it's only a matter of time until the US does too and pregnant women there contract it.
PS: Here's an update which details a new study and also suggests that mutations of the virus are feared by scientists:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/z...=australia
Quote:2. Autopsy found Zika virus in fetal brain tissue
While the link between Zika virus and the birth defect microcephaly is still unproven, a new study provides some clues to understanding the virus, The Associated Press reports. An autopsy a fetus aborted from a woman who contracted Zika virus in Brazil during her first trimester revealed that the fetus's brain was only a fraction of the size that would be expected at that stage of development. Scientists found Zika virus in the fetus's brain tissue, but not in any other organs. Scientists sequenced the virus's genetic material for future research that investigates the probable link between the virus and microcephaly.
New details are emerging about the infants born with microcephaly. According to a very small study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, a third of the study subjects, all of whom had microcephaly, were also born with eye damage, including lesions or scars in the retina and optic nerve. It's unknown if the eye damage is unique to microcephaly or if it occurs in the general population.
...
4. How Zika virus may threaten Africa
Zika virus was discovered in Uganda in 1947, but it hasn’t erupted in an epidemic with possible birth defects in African countries the way that it has in Latin America. But now, in 2016, experts are worried that the virus may return to the African mainland in mutated form, potentially triggering a new wave of infections among a population that had previously been immune to the disease, reports Reuters.