Study of Zika in Brazil Displays Its’ True Devastation

A recent study of the Zika virus has shown just how devastating it is to child development. The study, conducted in Brazil, included about 45 babies of mothers infected with the Zika virus. Most of the newborns in the study have been diagnosed with microcephaly, with only three escaping such a terrible condition. Microcephaly is the now almost ubiquitous with Zika, as the unusually small head commonly seen in babies with Zika comes from deformities that occur during brain development.

Zika affects brain development in three ways, countering the progress during development, stopping connections between parts of the brain and even affecting the brain after it has fully developed. Zika is incredibly versatile, giving trouble to parents of affected children in several forms. It can also affect a few parts of the brain, such as the corpus callosum, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum. The first is crucial to how the two halves of the brain interact; the second deals with emotions and thinking; the final one encapsulates motor skills and speech.

The way in which this devastating virus physically dampens the brain of the child can be through an excess of cerebrospinal fluid, which can fill in cavities or ventricles normally created during development. This inflates the brain, causing it to appear as if there is little to no brain tissue inside the skull. Sickeningly, this can cause implosions in the skull. This study is so crucial because of the way in which it showed how the Zika virus can affect babies and shows the signs of Zika, so that it can be used to make decisions on the child’s life. The buildup of calcium that has become a telltale sign of Zika affecting a developing child is part of the importance of the study and how it can help predictions later on. There is no word  yet on how to counteract the effects of Zika.

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