{"id":109785,"date":"2016-08-30T17:36:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T17:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/zika-tied-to-hearing-loss-in-6-of-brazilian-babies-in-study\/"},"modified":"2016-08-30T17:36:57","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T17:36:57","slug":"zika-tied-to-hearing-loss-in-6-of-brazilian-babies-in-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/zika-tied-to-hearing-loss-in-6-of-brazilian-babies-in-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Zika tied to hearing loss in 6% of Brazilian babies in study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.3741000.1472563249!\/cpImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/brazil-zika-virus.jpg\" alt=\"Brazil Zika Virus\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Dr. Angela Rocha shows brain scans of a baby born with microcephaly at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, in January. In Brazil, the Zika virus has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. (Felipe Dana\/Associated Press)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0A study in Brazil of 70 babies\u00a0whose mothers had confirmed Zika infections found that nearly 6\u00a0per cent had hearing loss, adding a new complication to the list\u00a0of ills the virus can cause when women are infected during\u00a0pregnancy.<br \/> \u00a0<br \/> The Brazilian study, published on Tuesday in the U.S.\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&#8217;s weekly report on\u00a0<br \/> death and disease<\/a>, confirmed less rigorous reports of deafness\u00a0among infants born to mothers with Zika infections.<br \/> \u00a0<br \/> The finding is part of an effort to fully characterize the\u00a0harm caused by the Zika virus during pregnancy. The virus is\u00a0best known for causing the severe birth defect microcephaly,\u00a0characterized by undersized heads and underdeveloped brains. But\u00a0other studies have shown that Zika can cause other brain\u00a0abnormalities, vision problems and joint deformities.<br \/> \u00a0<br \/> In the latest study, a team at\u00a0the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Pernambuco,\u00a0Brazil, examined records from 70 infants with microcephaly whose\u00a0mothers had laboratory-confirmed Zika infections during\u00a0pregnancy.<br \/> \u00a0<br \/> They found that nearly 6 per cent had hearing loss without\u00a0any other plausible cause.<br \/> \u00a0<br \/> Several other viral infections during pregnancy can cause\u00a0hearing loss, including rubella and cytomegalovirus, or CMV,<br \/> infections. The current study adds Zika infection to that list.<\/p>\n<h2>WHO emergency committee for Zika meets Thursday<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists say Zika should now be considered a risk factor\u00a0for hearing loss, and children who were exposed during pregnancy\u00a0but have normal hearing at birth should be screened regularly\u00a0for delayed or progressive hearing loss.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Meanwhile, the World Health Organization\u00a0(WHO) said on Tuesday that its Emergency Committee on Zika would\u00a0meet on Thursday to review the outbreak&#8217;s evolution and\u00a0neurological birth defects linked to the mosquito-borne virus.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The panel of independent experts led by Dr. David Heymann,\u00a0which last met on June 14, convenes every three months to assess\u00a0progress in the fight against the disease and malformations including microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size\u00a0that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8216;He&#8217;s a warrior&#8217;: Brazilian parents face challenges of raising babies with Zika<\/a><\/strong><strong>?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Zika infection found in newborns without microcephaly<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>Elsewhere, Australia, Taiwan and South\u00a0Korea advised pregnant women and those attempting to get\u00a0pregnant to avoid travel to Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Singapore&#8217;s\u00a0outbreak<\/a> and the warnings come as a potential blow to\u00a0tourism in one of the world&#8217;s busiest travel hubs, which is\u00a0already struggling to recover from a slump amid tepid global\u00a0growth.<\/p>\n<p>Singapore reported its first case of locally-transmitted\u00a0Zika at the weekend, and the number of reported infections of\u00a0the mosquito-borne virus has since jumped to 56. At least three\u00a0dozen of those have since made a full recovery.<\/p>\n<h2>Screening in Southeast Asia<\/h2>\n<p>In most\u00a0people infected with Zika virus, the reaction is\u00a0mild, and 80 per cent have no symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The Zika virus was detected in Brazil last year and has\u00a0since spread across the Americas. It poses a risk to pregnant\u00a0women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been\u00a0linked in Brazil to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a\u00a0rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small\u00a0heads and brains.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The 56 confirmed cases in Singapore include only one woman.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan, Australia and South Korea advised pregnant women and\u00a0those planning pregnancy to postpone trips to Singapore. Those\u00a0returning from the country should avoid pregnancy for two\u00a0months. South Korean travellers will receive text messages with\u00a0the warning when they arrive in Singapore.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Canadian baby with Zika developing normally, chief doctor says<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Regional health experts said the Zika virus is likely to be\u00a0significantly under-reported across tropical Southeast Asia as\u00a0<br \/> local health authorities fail to conduct adequate screening.<\/p>\n<p>As of Aug. 25, 232 travel-related cases, two\u00a0sexually transmitted cases and three\u00a0reports of maternal-to-fetal transmission have been detected in Canada<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There have been no reported cases of individuals infected by mosquitoes in Canada. Travellers are advised to take precautions against mosquito bites at all times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Angela Rocha shows brain scans of a baby born with microcephaly at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, in January. In Brazil, the Zika virus has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. (Felipe Dana\/Associated Press) \u00a0A <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/zika-tied-to-hearing-loss-in-6-of-brazilian-babies-in-study\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}