Pollyana Rabello (L) kisses her baby Luiz Philipe, who was born with microcephaly, at their house in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on Feb. 4, 2016. Luiz Philipe was born on Dec. 28, 2015 with microcephaly and now lives with his family in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, where 208 cases of microcephaly have been reported. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Thursday it was closely monitoring the outbreak of the Zika virus and warning about its potentially adverse effects on the health of women and babies, particularly in Latin America. (Xinhua/Daniel Castelo Branco/Agencia o Dia/AGENCIA ESTADO)(zhf)
***BRAZIL OUT***
The method, designed by a Canadian lab, will make it possible to determine whether a patient is infected with the virus in only 20 minutes. The current testing method used in Brazil works only in a more acute phase of infection.
Pollyana Rabello (L) kisses her baby Luiz Philipe, who was born with microcephaly, at their house in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on Feb. 4, 2016. Luiz Philipe was born on Dec. 28, 2015 with microcephaly and now lives with his family in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, where 208 cases of microcephaly have been reported. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Thursday it was closely monitoring the outbreak of the Zika virus and warning about its potentially adverse effects on the health of women and babies, particularly in Latin America. (Xinhua/Daniel Castelo Branco/Agencia o Dia/AGENCIA ESTADO)(zhf) ***BRAZIL OUT***
The Zika outbreak in Brazil has caught the attention of the World Health Organization as the virus would cause infants to be born with microcephaly if their mothers are infected during pregnancy.
Over 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly have been registered in Brazil, among them over 400 have already been confirmed. Of the confirmed cases, 141 were attributable to the Zika virus.
Cases of microcephaly in babies born from women infected with Zika were also registered in the United States and other Latin American countries.
The disease is also linked with a rise of Guillain-Barre syndrome cases. It is believed that Zika can trigger Guillain-Barre in people with a predisposition to this auto-immune disease, which affects the nerve system. Enditem
