ZIKA Virus Microcephaly also Linked to Eye Defects

[Michael Oberdorfer]

JAMA Ophthalmology reports that infants born with microcephaly resulting from infection with the ZIKA virus also have a number of serious ocular abnormalities which include the retina and the optic nerve. The pilot study involved infants with an abnormally small cephalic circumference (32)cm or less).
The study concludes, “These data suggest that clinicians should consider ophthalmologic evaluations of newborns from regions in the Americas where Zika virus transmission has spread rapidly to identify lesions associated with this presumed Zika virus congenital infection.” It seems the more we learn about the tragic impact of the ZIKA virus the worse it gets.