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Zika Definitely Causes Birth Defects, U.S. Officials Announce

4 minute read

There’s no longer doubt that Zika causes birth defects like microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities, United States health officials announced on Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that after a comprehensive review of research, the agency can confidently say that the virus causes certain birth defects. Until now, the CDC had said that evidence strongly supports a link, but that the link was not definitive. The agency published its review in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“This is a study that marks a turning point in the outbreak. It is now clear, the CDC has concluded, that Zika does cause microcephaly,” said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden during a call with reporters. “There is still a lot that we don’t know, but there’s no longer any doubt.”

The CDC says there’s no single piece of evidence that proves the link, but that by reviewing many studies and implementing criteria used to determine a link between an environmental exposure and birth defect, the agency is now certain. “This is an unprecedented association. Never before in history has there been a situation where a bite from a mosquito could result in a devastating malformation,” said Frieden. “The science now shows what the hundreds of impacted families have suspected all along.”

The researchers used two different standard criteria methods that are meant to determine whether a pathogen or other element causes birth defects. One of the methods required the researchers to take the available evidence on Zika and determine whether the exposure occurs at a critical time during pregnancy, whether there’s a specific pattern of defects, if the link involves a rare exposure and a rare defect, and if the link makes biological sense. The researchers felt that the available evidence lined up with the criteria to prove the causal link. Many of the women infected with Zika who have babies with microcephaly report infections in the first trimester or early second trimester, and the virus has been observed in the brains of babies with severe microcephaly who have died.

“Now that we’ve confirmed the causal relationship between Zika and birth defects, we can use this information to redouble our efforts to prevent Zika, more narrowly focus our research and communicate even more directly about the risks of Zika,” says Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, lead author of the study and director of the division of public health information and dissemination at the CDC. “This doesn’t mean we have all the answers. All the evidence supports a causal link, but many questions remain.”

For instance, it’s still not known why some pregnant women who get Zika do not have babies with microcephaly. Since not all people who contract Zika present symptoms, scientists want to know whether experiencing symptoms contributes to birth defect risk. There’s also the possibility that other factors beyond Zika, like prior infections, contribute to an increased risk for birth defects. The CDC says brain defects may be just one disorder in a range of health problems caused by the virus. “We still need many more answers, some of which could take years,” said Frieden.

See the Impact of Zika in Brazil

Mylene Helena Ferreira holds her five-month-old son David Henrique Ferreira, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 25, 2016.
Mylene Helena Ferreira holds her five-month-old son David Henrique Ferreira, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 25, 2016.Mario Tama—Getty Images
Homes are lit as the sun goes down in Ibura, one of the neighborhoods with the highest numbers of suspected cases of children born with microcephaly in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.
Homes are lit as the sun goes down in Ibura, one of the neighborhoods with the highest numbers of suspected cases of children born with microcephaly in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.Felipe Dana—AP
Soldiers inspect a house during an operation against the Aedes aegyti mosquito in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016. Health authorities in the state at the center of a Zika outbreak have been overwhelmed by the surge of babies born with microcephaly, a neurological disorder associated with the mosquito-borne virus.
Soldiers inspect a house during an operation against the Aedes aegyti mosquito in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016. Health authorities in the state at the center of a Zika outbreak have been overwhelmed by the surge of babies born with microcephaly, a neurological disorder associated with the mosquito-borne virus.Ueslei Marcelino—Reuters
A technician of the Fiocruz Institute stores Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to be used in research, in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.
A technician of the Fiocruz Institute stores Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to be used in research, in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.Felipe Dana—AP
Doctors scan the brain of a newborn to detect microcephaly, a neurological disorder associated with the Zika virus, at the Obras Sociais Irma Dulce hospital in Salvador, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.
Doctors scan the brain of a newborn to detect microcephaly, a neurological disorder associated with the Zika virus, at the Obras Sociais Irma Dulce hospital in Salvador, Brazil, Jan. 27, 2016.Christophe Simon—AFP/Getty Images
Staff prepare to draw blood from Ludmilla Hadassah Dias de Vasconcelos, who has microcephaly, at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 26, 2016.
Staff prepare to draw blood from Ludmilla Hadassah Dias de Vasconcelos, who has microcephaly, at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 26, 2016.Ueslei Marcelino—Reuters
Matheus Lima, 22, holds his two-year-old son, Pietro, who suffers from microcephaly, at his home in Salvador, Brazil, Jan. 28 , 2016.
Matheus Lima, 22, holds his two-year-old son, Pietro, who suffers from microcephaly, at his home in Salvador, Brazil, Jan. 28 , 2016.Christophe Simon—AFP/Getty Images
Girls gather nearby as health workers fumigate against the mosquito that transmits the Zika virus in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 28, 2016. Health officials believe as many as 100,000 people have been exposed to the Zika virus in Recife, although most never develop symptoms.
Girls gather nearby as health workers fumigate against the mosquito that transmits the Zika virus in Recife, Brazil, Jan. 28, 2016. Health officials believe as many as 100,000 people have been exposed to the Zika virus in Recife, although most never develop symptoms.Mario Tama—Getty Images
Gisele Felix, who is five months pregnant, stands on a terrace next to her son, Joao, at her home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan. 28, 2016. Felix, who is concerned about the Zika virus, has not gone out of her house during her 30-day vacation, keeping all the windows and doors closed in an effort to keep out mosquitoes.
Gisele Felix, who is five months pregnant, stands on a terrace next to her son, Joao, at her home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jan. 28, 2016. Felix, who is concerned about the Zika virus, has not gone out of her house during her 30-day vacation, keeping all the windows and doors closed in an effort to keep out mosquitoes.Pilar Olivares—Reuters

The CDC came to this conclusion now, Rasmussen said, because, “we wanted to do this in a very careful and systematic way. We didn’t want to say that Zika virus causes birth defects before we were really confident that was the case.”

The CDC says it is not changing any of its current guidance and recommendations for protection from Zika. The agency still maintains that pregnant women should avoid travel, and that women and their partners in places with active Zika infections should take measures to avoid sexual transmission of the virus.

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