Colombia has been hit hard by Zika, but the country has dodged the microcephaly epidemic that has been associated with the virus in Brazil, The New York Times reported.
"In Brazil, more than 2,000 babies have been born with microcephaly, abnormally small heads and brain damage caused by the Zika virus,” the Times reported. Colombia, which has experienced the world's second-largest Zika outbreak behind Brazil, has reported only 47 cases of microcephaly.
“In my 22 years as an ultrasound physician, I have never seen microcephaly like this,” Dr. Parra-Saavedra told the Times. “The heads are much smaller, to a severe degree.”
According to Dr. William O. Contreras, a neurosurgeon, “when this happens, there is no intelligence, no coordination, no attention, no initiative, no calculation – and no memories at all.”
Unlocking the mystery of why Colombia has the dodged a microcephaly epidemic could better equip officials to keep the disease in check worldwide, the Times noted.
Colombia was able to take quick action against Zika, which appeared in the country in late 2015, after first arriving in Brazil in early 2014. Other factors that may explain the discrepancy include the possibility that more pregnant Colombian woman may have sought abortions and others may have heeded warnings to hold off on having children for six to eight months to give officials time to watch how the epidemic would unfold, according to the Times.
As for women who were pregnant at the time, they could only hope for the best for their newborns.
A mother, Kiara Munoz, gave birth to her son, Juan Diego, who had originally appeared to have escaped the effects of the epidemic. However, during the seventh months of pregnancy it became evident that Juan had been impacted by microcephaly, the Times reported.
“The gynecologist said I could terminate, and I cried,” said Munoz, who is 18. “It was very hard because the baby was so big. My husband and I decided to keep him. I am hoping for a miracle.”
Doctors can’t say for sure that the epidemic is completely finished festering in Colombia However, Dr. Fernando Ruiz, Columbia’s vice minister for public health, said based on what Brazil experienced, he had expected Colombia to see 700 cases of the Zika-related disease, but now he expects to see no more than 250 cases, the Times reported.
Based on a large study done on pregnant Colombian women, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year, there were about 12,000 pregnant women infected with the Zika virus, but among these thousands of women there was not a single case of microcephaly found, the Guyana Chronicle reported.
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