The Zika virus is definitely responsible for outbreaks of microcephaly in babies, US health officials have stated.
The announcement came as a new Brazilian study today sets out the extent of the brain damage in babies caused by the virus.
Speaking about new research, Dr Thomas Frieden, head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said: "It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly."
And CDC expert Dr Anne Schuchat said: "Everything we know about this virus seems to be scarier than we initially thought."
The Brazilian research, published in The BMJ, involved a detail study of 23 babies diagnosed with a congenital infection linked to the Zika virus.
Their mothers also showed signs of Zika infection during pregnancy. All the babies had microcephaly or craniofacial disproportion and six tested positively for Zika virus antibodies.
CT scans showed that babies had brain calcification. It was also common to find malformations of cortical development, decreased brain volume and ventriculomegaly.
There was underdevelopment of the cerebellum and the brainstem – and MRI scans showed enlargement of the cistern magna together with delayed myelination.
The researchers, led by Professor Maria de Fatima Vasco Aragao, from Recife, Brazil, state that the brain damage was “extremely severe, indicating a poor prognosis for neurological function."
Clinical features and neuroimaging (CT and MRI) findings in presumed Zika virus related congenital infection and microcephaly: retrospective case series study. BMJ 14 April 2016 [abstract]
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