Pregnant women with Zika virus have range of abnormalities

29 percent of pregnant women with Zika virus infection were found to have a range of severe abnormalities, according to preliminary results from a small study that raised new concerns about the potential link between Zika and serious birth defects, reports Reuters.

The list of “grave outcomes” found in the study of pregnant women in Rio de Janeiro, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, included fetal death, calcification of the brain, placental insufficiency with low to no amniotic fluid, fetal growth restriction and central nervous system damage, including potential blindness.

“These were women infected in the first and second trimester of pregnancy,” Dr. Karin Nielsen, lead author of the study, said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

We also saw problems in the last trimester, which was surprising to us,” added Nielsen, noting two cases of fetal death very late in pregnancies in which there was no sign of brain malformation in earlier ultrasound tests.

“We have found a strong link between Zika and adverse pregnancy outcomes, which haven’t been documented before,” said Nielsen, professor of clinical pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Even if the fetus isn’t affected, the virus appears to damage the placenta, which can lead to fetal death.”

Zika infection has been linked to numerous cases in Brazil of the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems.