Finding adds to growing understanding of damage virus causes in these infants, researchers say
WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2016 (HealthDay News) — New ocular complications in infants born with Zika-related microcephaly have been identified by researchers. The latest vision findings, published online May 25 in Ophthalmology, add to a growing body of evidence about how Zika may affect children’s eye development and vision.
Previous research has found that one-third of Brazilian babies with microcephaly have ocular complications such as ocular lesions, optic nerve abnormalities, and chorioretinal atrophy.
The new report on three Brazilian infants with microcephaly identified three new ocular complications: hemorrhagic retinopathy, vascular changes, and torpedo maculopathy. The three infants also had the ocular complications found in previous research.
“To my knowledge, the eye problems we found have not been associated with Zika virus before,” senior author Darius Moshfeghi, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, said in a journal news release. “The next step is to differentiate what findings are related to the Zika virus itself versus microcephaly caused by the virus, in order to better understand which infants will need screening.”
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
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