MIAMI - The mosquito-borne Zika virus causes birth defects, including a syndrome in which babies are born with unusually small heads, US health authorities confirmed Wednesday after months of debate and uncertainty.
A woman bathes her son, suffering from microcephaly, in Salvador, Brazil on January 28, 2016
"Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention have concluded, after careful review of existing evidence,
that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain
defects," said a statement from the federal agency.
The decision was based in part on a series of studies in
Brazil, where thousands of babies were born last year with birth
defects, coinciding with a spike in Zika virus infections among the
general public.
"This study marks a turning point in the Zika outbreak," said CDC chief Tom Frieden.
"It is now clear that the virus causes microcephaly."
There was no "smoking gun," or single piece of evidence that
offered conclusive proof, said the full report, published in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
Rather, the decision was made based on "increasing evidence
from a number of recently published studies and a careful evaluation
using established scientific criteria," said the CDC.
Further studies are being launched to "determine whether
children who have microcephaly born to mothers infected by the Zika
virus is the tip of the iceberg of what we could see in damaging effects
on the brain and other developmental problems," Frieden added.
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