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Brazil has over 2,000 zika-related microcephaly cases in one year

Xinhua, October 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil's Health Ministry informed on Friday that, one year after the beginning of the zika-related microcephaly cases, 2,033 cases have been confirmed in the country.

In 381 cases, the infection by zika was already confirmed by lab tests.

Besides the two thousand cases of microcephaly already confirmed by authorities, other 3,055 cases are still under investigation.

In one year, 486 deaths were suspected to be related to microcephaly caused by infection by zika virus during pregnancy. Out of those, 170 have been confirmed as microcephaly cases so far.

The confirmed cases occurred in 688 towns in all Brazilian states, which means the zika virus reached all Brazil's regions. So far, the northeastern state of Pernambuco, where the relation between zika infection and microcephaly was first reported, has the most confirmed cases: 389.

Bahia and Paraiba states, also located in the northeastern region, followed Pernambuco, with 319 and 181 cases, respectively.

Though the relation between infection by zika virus during pregnancy and the birth of babies with microcephaly and other malformations was first reported in Brazil, microcephaly cases have been reported in several other countries around the globe, and the World Health Organization (WHO) believes cases will reach Asia as well. Endi