The first baby with microcephaly is born in Barcelona by Zika in Spain and Europe

The global alert was unleashed in February. The WHO declared the global health emergency due to microcephaly linked to the Zika virus and after it began the drop count of Zika cases in Spain, which up to now have already confirmed 190 confirmed, 26 of them pregnant. None of them are indigenous, that is, they are all cases imported from people coming from or who had visited affected countries.

The mother was one of those cases. The woman contracted the virus by being bitten by a mosquito on a trip to Latin America and has given birth to a baby with microcephaly and other malformations, according to doctors from the Vall d'Hebrón Hospital in Barcelona. This is the first case of microcephaly caused by Zika in Spain and Europe.

Last May the malformation in pregnancy had been detected, when performing the ultrasound of the 20 weeks. Nonetheless, the mother decided not to abort and move on with the pregnancy. It was the second case of a malformation detected in pregnancy in Europe, the other case was of a Slovenian woman, who decided to abort upon knowing the problems of the fetus.

The baby was born by caesarean section and doctors confirmed that "your cranial perimeter is low". When a newborn's head should be between 33.5 and 34 centimeters at birth, microcephaly (small head) is a condition characterized by a head size significantly smaller than that of other children of the same age and sex. It is "the translation of a brain that has not grown."

You can live with microcephaly

His clinical status is correct and without gravity, at the moment. A person with this malformation can live many years If it does not present respiratory problems and it nourishes correctly, but the implications that it can have in the long term are unknown.

Depending on the cause and severity of the microcephaly, complications may include developmental delays, neurological disorders, difficulties with coordination and balance, dwarfism, facial distortions, hyperactivity, mental retardation or seizures.

From now on, a specialized follow-up will be carried out, such as that of a child with neurological problems. It will be treated by a multidisciplinary team made up of pediatricians, neurosurgeons, rehabilitation, and pediatric ophthalmology, among others.

It is clear that not all babies of mothers infected with zik are born with microcephaly. The mechanism by which the babies of some women who have contracted the virus are affected by malformations that make their brain smaller than normal (microcephaly) while others are born with a normal cranial perimeter is unknown, although it is not ruled out that There are long-term effects.

Video: Spain says Europe's first Zika microcephaly birth confirmed in Catalonia (March 2024).