RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says researchers have found the strongest evidence so far of a possible link between a mosquito-borne virus and a surge of birth defects in Brazil.
The CDC said Wednesday that researchers found the dengue-like Zika virus in the babies of two women who miscarried and two newborns who died. Those who were born had small heads, a rare condition known as microcephaly.
CDC’s director of mosquito-borne diseases is Dr. Lyle Petersen and he says that finding the virus in brain tissue is “very significant.”
Brazil’s government says 3,530 babies have been born with microcephaly in the country since October. The number was less than 150 in 2014.