Brazil : Zika Virus Found In The Brains Of Two Babies

Zika virus has been found in the brains of two babies by a team at the PUC-Parana University, Brazil, further contributing to evidences, that link up the virus with birth defects.

The study comes in after 220,000 Brazilian soldiers fanned out across the country last week, knocking on doors to raise awareness about the Zika virus and its carrier the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.

According to scientists, the samples taken from the brain tissues of the two babies showed that the virus was actively present. They have been following the pregnancies of 10 women in the north-eastern state of Paraiba - the second worst-hit by cases of microcephaly.

One of the researchers who made the possible connection between Zika and brain defects, Dr Adriana Melo, said that the cases she has seen in the north-east of Brazil "are never microcephaly alone" - but include other brain disorders such as dilated ventricles, calcifications and contractures to the joints. Recent findings are adding more evidence to the results announced last week by scientists in the US and Slovenia which detected the virus in samples from other babies with microcephaly.

Brazil has about 460 confirmed cases of microcephaly, and is investigating about 3,850 suspected cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global public health emergency over the possible connection between Zika and microcephaly. Though the link with Zika has not been confirmed, the WHO and other public health bodies strongly suspected it to be so. The microcephaly cases have been centered in north-east Brazil, but the Zika outbreak has affected people in more than 20 countries in the American continent.