{"id":2413,"date":"2025-07-15T22:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T20:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loveforhealthyfood.com\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2025-07-15T22:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T20:54:24","slug":"brain-scans-of-brazilian-babies-show-array-of-zika-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loveforhealthyfood.com\/?p=2413","title":{"rendered":"Brain Scans of Brazilian Babies Show Array of Zika Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"72.1\"
Images show the damage inflicted on the heads of twin girls born with the Zika virus. Credit Radiology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The images tell a heartbreaking story: Zika\u2019s calamitous attack on the brains of babies \u2014 as seen from the inside.<\/p>\n

A study of brain scans and ultrasound pictures of 45 Brazilian babies whose mothers were infected with Zika in pregnancy shows that the virus can inflict serious damage to many different parts of the fetal brain beyond microcephaly, the condition of unusually small heads that has become the sinister signature of Zika.<\/p>\n

The images, published Tuesday in the journal Radiology, also suggest a grim possibility: Because some of the damage was seen in brain areas that continue to develop after birth, it may be that babies born without obvious impairment will experience problems as they grow.<\/p>\n

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Radiology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt really brings to the forefront the importance of truly understanding the impact of Zika virus and the fact that we need to follow children who not only are exposed to Zika in pregnancy, but even those who don\u2019t appear to have any complications at birth,\u201d said Dr. Catherine Y. Spong, acting director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

Most of the babies in the study were born with microcephaly, although three were not. Each also suffered other impairments, almost all of which emerge earlier than microcephaly because a smaller head is really a consequence of a brain that has failed to develop fully or has been damaged along the way, experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe brain that should be there is not there,\u201d said Dr. Deborah Levine, an author of the study and a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School. \u201cThe abnormalities that we see in the brain suggest a very early disruption of the brain development process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scans show the range of Zika\u2019s brain targets, some of which experts knew about, including the corpus callosum, which facilitates communication between the two hemispheres; the cerebellum, which plays a significant role in movement, balance and speech; and the basal ganglia, which are involved in thinking and emotion.<\/p>\n

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Radiology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think we were all aware that Zika causes brain abnormalities, but it\u2019s been more generic,\u201d said Dr. Rita Driggers, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. \u201cNow we know more specifically what we\u2019re looking for in terms of brain abnormalities before the microcephaly occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading the main story
\nTogether, the images provide a more detailed guide that might help doctors diagnose Zika-related fetal damage earlier \u2014 possibly in the second trimester at a point early enough to help women decide whether to terminate a pregnancy, said Dr. Adre du Plessis, director of the Fetal Medicine Institute of Children\u2019s National Health System, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the study may eventually help doctors rule out damage caused by Zika infection. \u201cIf there\u2019s any uncertainty on ultrasound, we\u2019re concerned that couples that are not risk-takers and don\u2019t want to gamble might be terminating perfectly normal babies, which is of course a concern to us,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there is a lot riding on being able to image accurately.\u201d<\/p>\n

One finding that surprised several experts could become an especially meaningful diagnostic clue. Many infections that target the brain produce clumps of calcium, called calcification. But in Zika-infected babies, calcification often occurred in an unusual place: at the intersection of the gray matter of the outer layer of the brain, the cortex, and the white matter of the layer just below that.<\/p>\n

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Radiology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That pattern could emerge as a particular stamp of Zika infection, experts said. Dr. Spong said that because the area involves two different types of blood vessels, it might suggest that Zika targets vascular areas.<\/p>\n

And it could signal why the virus wreaks such ruthless effects on brain development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a critical area for brain formation,\u201d Dr. du Plessis said. At the gray-white matter intersection, healthy cells \u201crelease certain chemicals that allow the neurons to find their precise destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that gets scrambled they end up in the wrong place, they don\u2019t function the way they should, and messaging and connectivity is severely deranged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the babies in the study had such damage in the cortex, which plays a crucial role in learning, memory and coordination, and also continues to develop at least through infancy, suggesting that Zika-infected babies who seemed to emerge unscathed might be vulnerable to difficulties as they grow.<\/p>\n

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Radiology<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another abnormality seen in most of the babies\u2019 brains involved the ventricles or cavities of the brain becoming so full of cerebrospinal fluid that they \u201cblow up like a balloon,\u201d Dr. Levine said. The ventricles may be filling with fluid because Zika is obstructing their ability to drain normally, or because damage to other brain areas leaves a kind of vacuum that the enlarged ventricles fill.<\/p>\n

The fluid-filled ventricles can make the head size seem normal earlier in pregnancy, Dr. Levine said. But as scans of one pregnancy taken at 36 weeks gestation show, the fluid can be so prominent that the scan shows what \u201clooks like the skull and very little brain tissue inside it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At some point, these ventricles, \u201clike a balloon, can pop,\u201d she said. And if they do, \u201cthe brain will collapse on itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The images come from 17 babies whose mothers had confirmed Zika infection during pregnancy and 28 without laboratory confirmation but with all indications of Zika infection. Dr. Levine worked with colleagues in Brazil, which has more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, to analyze images from the Instituto de Pesquisa in Paraiba in the northeastern part of the country. Three of the babies died in the first three days of life, and researchers studied autopsy reports in those cases.<\/p>\n

The images include scans of twin girls, who both developed microcephaly. The pictures show folds of overlapping skin and a sloping forehead, indications not only that the brain is smaller, but also that the forebrain has not developed normally, Dr. Levine said.<\/p>\n

Images of another baby girl show contracted hands and arms, the result of another common symptom. Zika seems to damage the nerves in a developing fetus so that sometimes \u201cmuscles aren\u2019t developing normally because they don\u2019t have the nerve impulses to move normally,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then when they\u2019re born, they\u2019re stuck in this contracted position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Levine said the images suggest that Zika is like a formidable enemy able to do damage in three ways: keeping parts of the brain from forming normally, obstructing areas of the brain, and destroying parts of the brain after they form.<\/p>\n

With such a vicious and unpredictable virus, \u201cit\u2019s key to realize that Zika is more than microcephaly, that there\u2019s a number of other abnormalities as they\u2019ve shown in this paper, and its effects are going to be even more broad,\u201d said Dr. Spong, whose agency has begun a study of what will ultimately be 10,000 babies born in Zika epidemic areas including Brazil and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be essential to follow them to look at their development, to look at their ability to learn, to look at hearing problems, balance problems, behavior problems, all those issues, to make sure that we don\u2019t miss anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: www.nytimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The images tell a heartbreaking story: Zika\u2019s calamitous attack on the brains of babies \u2014 as seen from the inside. A study of brain scans and ultrasound pictures of 45 Brazilian babies whose mothers were infected with Zika in pregnancy shows that the virus can inflict serious damage to many different parts of the fetal… <\/p>\n

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