Off the wire
• Sporting Lisbon eye Brazil striker Damiao  • Growth in New Zealand manufacturing sector surges in last December  • Feature: Chinese blue helmets consistent contributor to peace in Middle East  • Venezuelan journalist possibly murdered by hitman: official  • Fish to become "intoxicated" from rising CO2 levels: Aussie scientists  • China to further cut coal capacity  • Traditional stone signposts counted in Inner Mongolia  • Mario Yepes retires at San Lorenzo  • Tokyo shares end higher by break on weaker yen  • UN urges Mexico to unify legislation to protect migrants  
You are here: 　 Home

Brazil confirms five more babies killed by Zika virus

Xinhua, January 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Five more babies have died in Brazil due to the Zika virus, the government announced on Wednesday.

According to the latest report by the Health Ministry, the five deaths happened in northeastern Brazil, the worst region hit by Zika.

Furthermore, another baby was born in the southern state of Minas Gerais with microcephaly after his mother contracted the virus.

To date, Brazil has registered 3,893 cases of microcephaly, suspected of being caused by Zika. Among these cases, 224 have been confirmed related to the virus, while the others are still under investigation.

Scientists in Brazil have recently confirmed that Zika does manage to infect fetuses through the placenta and put baby lives at risk, leaving afflictions like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, blindness and hearing loss.

Spreading from Africa to Latin America in March 2014, the virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and could lead to microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which infants are born with smaller craniums and brains. Endi