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Zika outbreak: Infant death in Texas linked to virus

The recent death of an infant in the Houston area has been linked to Zika virus, state health officials say.

Mother recently travelled to Latin America while she was pregnant

The Associated Press ·
A mosquito lab scientist in the Dallas area sorts mosquitoes collected in a trap in February. The recent death of an infant in the Houston area has been linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. (LM Otero/Associated Press)
Texas reported its first Zika-related death Tuesday after an infant whose mother travelled to El Salvador while pregnant died shortly after birth in a suburban Houston hospital.

The baby girl, who died a few weeks ago, had microcephaly linked to Zika virus, said Dr. Umair Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health.

"We are devastated to report our first case of Zika-associated death and our hearts go out to the family," Shah said.

Test results linking the death to Zika were confirmed Friday. The mother had travelled while pregnant to her native El Salvador and returned to Harris County in her second trimester. Officials did not release her name.

The only other confirmed Zika-related death in the U.S. was that of an elderly Utah man who died in June. He suffered from additional health conditions.

Florida is the only U.S. state that has reported homegrown Zika transmission by mosquitoes, in Miami-Dade County.

Texas has reported 97 Zika cases, all contracted during travel abroad. Harris County has reported 31 Zika cases, including 14 in Houston.

Last week, Texas officials announced that the state's Medicaid program would provide mosquito repellent to all expectant mothers and women between the ages of 10 and 45.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett doubted the efficiency of that program and said he would work with local and state officials as well as corporate partners to get the spray directly to residents.

Florida has four new cases of people likely infected with Zika through mosquito bites in Miami, Gov. Rick Scott said on Tuesday, as he urged Congress to reconvene and approve additional money to combat the virus.

Babies' constricted limbs

Researchers in Recife, the epicentre of Brazil's Zika epidemic, are trying to fill in the picture about how Zika virus infection in the womb is associated with constricted limbs from curved joints.

In Thursday's issue of BMJ, Vanessa van der Linden of the Association for Assistance of Disabled Children and her co-authors described detailed brain and joint images of seven children with the joint condition called arthrogryposis. 

All of the children showed signs of brain calcification, or calcium buildup in the brain. It's thought to occur when the virus destroys brain cells and leads to the formation of scars with calcium deposits. 

But high-definition scans of the joints showed no signs of joint issues.

The investigators suspect arthrogryposis doesn't result from abnormalities in the joints themselves but rather from motor neurons that control how muscles contract or relax becoming fixed in the womb, or from vascular disorders that affect the arteries and veins.

The researchers weren't able to conclude whether Zika virus causes arthrogryposis from the observational study.

They recommend orthopedic follow-up for affected children.

With files from Reuters and CBC News

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