Study Tracks Outcomes in Children Born to Zika Virus-Infected Mothers

In Lancet Regional Health – Americas, members of the Zika Brazilian Cohorts Consortium present findings from a meta-analysis focused on offspring from pregnant women infected with the Zika virus (ZIKV) during an epidemic in Brazil from 2015 to 2017. Using data for 1,548 women with RT-PCR-verified ZIKV infections, the team saw miscarriage in 0.9 percent of pregnancies and stillbirth in another 0.3 percent of pregnancies. For infants born live, meanwhile, the researchers identified microcephaly in 4 percent of offspring. Still other children born to ZIKV-infected mothers had neurological, auditory, ophthalmic, and other abnormalities, they report, though just 1 percent had multiple abnormalities. "Our findings suggest that approximately one-third of the children born to ZIKV-positive pregnant women present with at least one abnormality compatible with congenital infection," the authors report, noting that "congenital abnormalities are more likely to present in isolation than in combination."