At least 29 people in Hudson Valley infected with Zika

This image depicts how the vaginal mucosal environment is permissive to the replication of Zika virus and infection through that route can lead to fetal brain infection even in mice.

According to the study, the baby “had no obvious illness” or immune system problem when he was 7 weeks old. For its adult victims, 4 out of 5 are asymptomatic.

In most people, Zika lives in the blood for about seven days and then resolves.

Doctors said a Brazilian baby with brain damage caused by the Zika virus stayed infected for more than two months after his birth, NBC News reported.

Researchers in mouse experiments find evidence that the Zika virus can survive in the vagina of women for almost a week after they’re infected. So, some scientists wonder if the Zika-infected fetus continues to re-infect the mother throughout the pregnancy – either until the baby is born, the woman miscarries, or the pregnancy is terminated. Although the majority of her patients seem to have now recovered fully, it remains to be seen what the long term effects will be.

“We were surprised”, said co-author Laura Yockey of the Department of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. “And we don’t have a lot of patients to tell you if [the damage] will be reversible or it will be permanent”. But there are still other complications from Zika other than microcephaly that doctors are still trying to understand – and many of them may happen later in pregnancy. As a fetus grows, its skull gets larger to accommodate the growth of the brain. In three fetuses who appeared to have a normal head circumference, this was only because their ventricles had enlarged so much that the extra volume was making up for the loss in brain matter.

The Zika virus may reproduce in the vagina of pregnant women several days after infection, from where it spreads and infects the fetal brain, impairing fetal development, a mouse study suggested Thursday. The absence of those ridges and folds means there is less surface area for neurons. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil. “This is the critical period for neurogenesis”. She, in turn, brought in colleague Richard Robertson, a neuroradiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and associate professor of radiology at HMS. Also, a person with Zika can pass it to his or her sex partners.

Magnetic resonance imaging showed the baby boy had brain damage.

County officials stress that in all cases, those infected contracted the virus while traveling outside the two counties. That means that for at-risk infants, newborn hearing screenings are essential and should be followed up with preschool and elementary hearing screenings in subsequent years.

While the research findings are targeted more toward the medical community that may one day treat a baby exposed to Zika virus in the womb, the images and descriptions of the severe damage caused by the disease emphasize just how crucial it is for women living in areas affected by Zika virus to take steps to prevent mosquito bites or sexual transmission of the virus. Referrals included pregnant women who presented with a characteristic rash in pregnancy and fetuses with suspected central nervous system abnormalities.