Joint U.S. and Brazil Teams Begin Study into Zika-Microcephaly Link

By Cheri Cheng - 23 Feb '16 12:46PM

Health official from the United States and Brazil have begun their joint efforts to study the link between the Zika virus and birth defect microcephaly.

Brazil's health minister, Marcelo Castro, said he is "absolutely sure" that the virus is behind the recent spike in microcephaly cases in Brazil.

Although there has been some evidence suggesting that the virus causes microcephaly, which is characterized by an abnormally small head and a brain that is not fully developed, officials are hoping to get a clearer idea about what is going on with the virus - if anything - in the womb.

Officials from the joint team of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Brazil's health ministry will be heading to the state of Paraiba in Brazil on Tuesday to look for mothers and newborns to include in their study. A total of eight teams, each composed of one CDC employee and three Brazilian health workers will be going door-to-door. Paraiba has had 56 confirmed cases of microcephaly with an additional 423 cases being investigated.

The officials ideally want to recruit at least 130 infants with microcephaly and their mothers. They also want to recruit at least 260 to about 390 mother-infant pairs, specifically from the area, who have not been affected for comparison. Blood tests will be taken and analyzed.

"I do believe there is something occurring that is unique and knowable, but we really need to understand better, mostly so we can prevent this from happening to other generation," Erin Staples, an epidemiologist who is heading the CDC section in Paraiba, said reported by the Washington Post.

The team will also be keeping an eye out for other potential factors that could be causing microcephaly, such as dengue fever, which is also transmitted by the same mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and toxins.

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a public health emergency, several studies into the virus, which includes developing a vaccine and finding effective diagnostic tests, are being conducted.