The arguments accumulate but they are not sufficient to conclude to a certain link between the Zika virus and cases of microcephaly in children.
Cautious but resigned. The World Health Organization (WHO) held a press point on the Zika virus on February 19. The link with cases of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome remains to be demonstrated, underlines WHO Deputy Director General Bruce Aylward. But he mentions a “growing accumulation of clues” in this direction.
“The virus is guilty as long as its innocence has not been demonstrated,” said the deputy general manager. The formula is scathing. The rest of the conference is less so. WHO will need four to six months to obtain formal evidence. Bruce Aylward points out, however, that at present, no other reason can explain the concomitance between the epidemic of Zika and the increase in cases of microcephaly – a congenital malformation which is characterized by an underdevelopment of the skull. fetus – and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Rare complications
Indeed, the bundle of arguments tightens around the flavivirus. 36 countries are affected worldwide, including 28 on the American continent. Microcephaly, on the other hand, has only been observed in Brazil and French Polynesia. But autopsies performed on an aborted fetus and on babies who died from the birth defect revealed the presence of Zika in the brain. It was also found in amniotic fluid.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is found more frequently: eight countries are affected. But this neurological complication remains relatively rare in people who develop the infection. According to the latest report from the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS), 2,130 suggestive cases were reported in Martinique, where the epidemic was declared. Only five patients developed Guillain-Barré syndrome. Guyana, also at the epidemic threshold, reported 3 complications of this type out of 355 new cases.
The islands of Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe are still at stage 2 (beginner viral circulation) but the number of reported cases is increasing steadily. Only Saint-Barthélemy remained spared.
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