Though there was no smoking gun — no single piece of evidence that clinched Zika as the culprit — little clues began adding up, beginning with the conspicuous timing of Brazil’s microcephaly upsurge (SN: 4/2/16, p. 26). In January the CDC first issued a warning to pregnant women to postpone travel to Zika-affected regions. On April 13, a day that may be forever etched into Rasmussen’s memory, she and colleagues reported “a causal relationship...een Zika and microcephaly, along with other birth defects, in a study published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Since then, Rasmussen says, “The data have become absolutely overwhelming.”




This is the year that people became convinced that this mosquito-borne virus could cause birth defects,
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.



— Sonja Rasmussen



In May, a mouse study offered the first direct proof in animals that in utero Zika infection can lead to microcephaly (SN Online: 5/11/16). In September, researchers reported that a pregnant pigtailed macaque infected with Zika in the third trimester then gave birth to a baby whose brain had stopped growing. In human babies, the range of disorders linked to Zika has ballooned to include problems with the eyes, ears and joints, as well as seizures and extreme irritability (SN: 10/29/16, p. 14). At a workshop in North Bethesda, Md., this fall,
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, a room crowded with doctors and scientists watched videos of inconsolable infants jerking erratically,
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, arms and legs unnaturally stiff. “Heartbreaking,” Rasmussen says.

In December,
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, researchers reported a surge in babies with microcephaly in Colombia (SN Online: 12/9/16), further evidence for Zika's role in birth defects.

Zika isn’t the first virus to harm babies in the womb. Cytomegalovirus can also cause microcephaly, for example, and rubella, known as “German measles,” can leave babies with hearing, vision and heart problems. Even among these viruses, though, Zika stands out. “It’s such a precedent-setting thing,” Rasmussen says. “Never before has there been a mosquito-borne virus known to cause birth defects.”

Despite what scientists have learned in 2016, there’s little consolation for families already affected by microcephaly. And huge questions remain for expectant mothers. In particular, says Spong, it’s not clear just how risky Zika infection during pregnancy really is. One study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July estimated that the ris...a child with microcephaly increases to somewhere between 1 and 13 percent for women infected in their first trimester.

Spong hopes that a new study will clarify things. It’s called the Zika in Infants and Pregnancy Cohort Study, or ZIP, and the plan is to enroll 10,000 women in their first trimester. They’ll come from Puerto Rico, as well as Brazil and other countries, Spong says, and include both infected and uninfected women.

Tracking these women through pregnancy,
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, birth and their baby’s first year of life could fill in some answers, like whether an infected pregnant woman who doesn’t have symptoms is better off than one who does. It’s also possible that some type of cofactor, like environmental toxins or other infections, is working with Zika to cause birth defects.

“You’re supposed to avoid stress when you’re pregnant,” Rasmussen says. “How do you avoid stress when you’re thinking that your baby could have these problems related to Zika?”

In the best-case scenario, a Zika vaccine could still be a few years away. And though infection rates may be winding down in some places, in areas with seasonally high temperatures and rainfall, such as Puerto Rico, Zika could become a local fixture. Still, any scrap of new information might help. Results from ZIP and other studies won’t erase the damage, but they could offer a pinprick of light following a year darkened by disease.

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 21:09:02 +0000 https://www.sciencenew...nst-zika-virus-tests-mice



News in Brief





Health,





Zika virus







By





Meghan Rosen







3:47pm, November 7, 2016

















ZIKA BLOCKER A new therapy tested in mice curtails the effects of Zika virus (shown red in this transmission electron microscope image).







NIAID/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)










Magazine issue:
Vol. 190, No. 12, December 10, 2016, p. 16








Citations




G. Sapparapu et al,
cheap real jordans
. Neutralizing human ant...and fetal disease in mice,


cheap real jordans
.
Nature. Published online November 7, 2016. doi: 10.1038/nature20564.







Further Reading




M,
cheap jordans
. Rosen. This week in Zika: Vag...e double trouble and more. Science News Online, November 17, 2016.


T.H. Saey. Zika disrupts cellular... impair brain development,
cheap jordans for sale
. Science News. Vol. 190, November 12, 2016, p. 13.




The battle against Zika may have some new firepower. A single dose of a human antibody called ZIKV-117 can shield mouse fetuses f... virus’s damaging effects, researchers report online November 7 in Nature.

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