The new findings shed light on how the virus can cause devastating birth defects and stillbirths in the babies of mothers who only experienced mild illness.
For the study, CDC researchers tested tissues from eight deceased infants born with microcephaly and 44 women suspected of being infected with Zika virus during pregnancy. Twenty-two of the women experienced adverse pregnancy outcomes. Genetic analysis revealed Zika RNA survived in fetal brains and placentas for more than seven months after the mother contracted the virus. Additionally, viral RNA levels were approximately 1,000 times greater in fetal brains than they were in placentas.
“Our findings show that Zika virus can continue to replicate in infants’ brains even after birth,” said Julu Bhatnagar, PhD, lead of the molecular pathology team at CDC’s Infectious Diseases Pathology Branch and the study’s lead author. “We don’t know how long the virus can persist, but its persistence could have implications for babies born with microcephaly and for apparently healthy infants whose mothers had Zika during their pregnancies. More studies are needed to fully understand how the virus can affect babies.”
More articles on the Zika virus:
4 more local cases of Zika identified in Texas
Mothers infected with Zika in 1st trimester more likely to have babies with microcephaly
Last zone of local Zika transmission lifted in Miami Beach
