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Brazil reveals 404 new microcephaly cases in one week

Xinhua, February 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's Health Ministry announced on Tuesday 404 new cases of microcephaly in the past week, bringing the total to 4,783.

The ministry explained in a press release that other than new cases, 709 cases have been either false alarms or irrelevant to zika, which is believed to cause birth defects such as microcephaly, or small heads, and the rest of the cases are still under investigation.

76 babies have now died from microcephaly and the accompanying damage of the nervous system, including stillborn births from zika-affected mothers.

Brazil's poorest and worst-hit northeast region accounts for 82 percent of the cases.

The Brazilian government has launched a major operation against the spread of the zika virus. Around 220,000 soldiers were deployed to scrutinize every part of the country to wipe out potential breeding sites of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can transmit zika, dengue and chikungunya, an infection that can lead to joint pain and fever. Endi