Here are four points:
1. Although some babies may be born with small heads, other brain damage includes dead spots, cataracts and congenital deafness.
2. A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association investigated 442 pregnancies between January and September in the United States and Hawaii. Most of the women were returning travelers. Of the babies born, 6 percent showed signs of birth defects. The researchers found no birth defects impacted babies who were born to mothers infected with Zika in the second or third trimester.
3. Another study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found of 125 Brazil-based mothers with Zika, about half of the pregnancies demonstrated “adverse outcomes,” from fetal deaths to brain damage.
4. In a third study, published by Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers found the Zika virus continued to replicate in infants’ brains weeks post-birth. The researchers concluded babies born to mothers with Zika should be watched after birth.
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