Brazil confirms 1,616 cases of microcephaly since last October

The number of confirmed cases of microcephaly, an abnormal smallness of the head associated with incomplete brain development, has reached 1,616 in Brazil since Oct. 22 of last year, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday.

Of all these confirmed cases, 233 were positively linked to the Zika virus, and the majority were found in the northeast of Brazil, its poorest area.

The state of Pernambuco has seen the highest number of cases with 366, followed with Bahia's 263 cases and Paraiba with 143.

In total, over 8,000 suspected cases of microcephaly were alerted in this timeframe, but 3,416 have been eliminated and 3,007 are still under investigation.

In the last week alone, 103 new cases have been reported, 35 others have been confirmed, and 108 have been eliminated. Since October, 324 babies have succumbed to microcephaly or other conditions of the central nervous system caused during pregnancy or after birth. Of these, 86 deaths are definitely linked to Zika, 56 have been attributed to other causes and 182 are under investigation.

In terms of total Zika cases, Brazil has now registered 138,108 likely cases of the virus in 2016, bringing the infection rate to 67.6 for every 100,000 people. Enditem