Around 80 percent of those infected with the Zika virus are asymptomatic, but the virus can pose significant problems for pregnant women, as Zika increases the risks for birth defects and microcephaly.
If the baby has proportionate microcephaly - and is just born small - then it's possible that the brain development could catch up, although "a lot of questions still need to be answered", Nielsen-Saines said.
Zika, a mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted disease that has caused birth defects across Latin America, has been detected in growing numbers of people in Southeast Asia over the past month.
Thai Ministry of Public Health spokesman Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai said recently that the public should not panic about the virus.
"We are reporting the preliminary findings of our study because of the striking magnitude of the association between microcephaly and Zika virus infection", the report states. Investigators compared each of the 32 microcephaly cases they found with two controls: "the first two infants born the following morning without microcephaly..."
"Arm yourself with information on the Zika virus available on the Ministry of Health Website www.moh.gov.bn or you can contact Darussalam line 123".
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The total number of nontravel-related Zika cases in Florida is now up to 70. By comparison, none of the babies in the healthy control group tested positive for Zika.
"Our findings suggest Zika virus should be officially added to the list of congenital infections", said Thália Velho Barreto de Araújo of Brazil's Pernambuco University, who also worked on the research team. However, this important population of younger adults in their childbearing years still has key gaps in knowledge, including less understanding than older Americans of recommendations to consider delaying pregnancy in certain circumstances and greater misperceptions about the safety of use of insect repellent with DEET by pregnant women. These free tests, meant to ease the worry of pregnant women who either didn't have the health insurance coverage or the financial ability to pay for the costly Zika testing, worked in theory but not in practice.
A case of the West Nile virus has been confirmed in Macomb County. However, the most concern comes from its fatal effect to a pregnant woman, especially to the unborn baby.
The babies who were studied were recruited from 8 hospitals from the Recife region, which was hard hit by the Zika virus epidemic in Brazil.
Since late August, when 31 cases of Zika virus had been confirmed in MI residents this year, the number has grown to 53, state health officials said Thursday.
