A review of birth defects associated with Zika virus infection

Introduction: Previous research showed that Zika virus is an RNA virus that is closely related to other flaviviruses including yellow fever, dengue virus, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile virus. after the recognition of Zika virus transmission in the Brazil; increase in the number of infants with neurodevelopmental abnormalities was noticed(۱). %۶۰ of birth defects in ۲۰۱۶ was associated with Zika virus. pathologic evidence supports this association: Zika virus RNA has been seen in damaged mononuclear cells (presumably glial cells and neurons) in the brains of newborns with microcephaly, and the virus appears to be neurotropic(۲).Materials and Methods: This study is a review. After searching for key words: Zika virus, birth defects, neurotropic brain anomalies, from ۲۰۱۵ to ۲۰۲۱, ۲۹ related articles according to inclusion criteria from the database PubMed, Embase, Scopus, UpToDate data were extracted and analyzed.۱۰ articles according exclusion criteria such as observational study, review article,written in other language than English, year of publish ≤ ۲۰۱۵ were removed from study. Results: Among pregnant women who were monitored with completed pregnancies and laboratory evidence of possible recent Zika infection, ۶% of fetuses or infants had evidence of Zika-associated birth defects, primarily brain abnormalities and microcephaly, whereas among women with first trimester Zika infection, ۱۱% of fetuses or infants had evidence of Zika-associated birth defects(۳, ۴). Discussion and Conclusion: Studies in this field confirm Longitudinal monitoring of the infants with possible congenital Zika virus infection is essential to fully characterize the outcomes. There are some reports of normocephalic infants with congenital Zika virus infection who have abnormal postnatal brain development or adverse effects that are not immediately apparent at birth(۵).