Brazil: Babies of mothers infected with Zika will be monitored for up to 3 years

Babies whose mothers were infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy will be monitored for up to 3 years, even if they have not reported any symptom at birth. In addition to head circumference measurement, which is the primary criterion for microcephaly notification, other malformations resulting from the infection will be investigated.

Babies whose mothers were infected with the Zika virus during pregnancy will be monitored for up to 3 years, even if they have not reported any symptom at birth. Image credit: Agência Brasil/TV Brasil

Pregnant women are now recommended to undergo two ultrasonography tests during the prenatal period, as an attempt to identify neurological alterations during pregnancy. In addition to the one done in the first three months, another test should be done around the seventh month of pregnancy.

The measures were announced one year after the declaration of national emergency due to the rise in the number of microcephaly cases registered in Brazil.

According to the government, the measures were based on recent scientific evidence on the effects of Zika's infection on the baby development.

More recent data from the ministry indicate 11,119 notifications of microcephaly nationwide since November last year, with 60% of them reported in the Northeast region. Of the total, 2,143 cases were confirmed for microcephaly associated with the Zika virus—78% of them in the Northeast. (Agência Brasil)

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