The rapid spread of the Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas and its potential association with thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil and higher rates of Guillain-Barré syndrome meet the conditions for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, as stated by the World Health Organization in February 2016. Two months later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the current available evidence supports the existence of a causal relationship between prenatal Zika virus infection and microcephaly and other serious brain anomalies. Microcephaly can be caused by several factors, and its clinical course and prognosis are difficult to predict. Other pathogens with proven teratogenicity have been identified long before the current ZIKV epidemic. Despite the growing number of cases with maternal signs of infection and/or presence of ZIKV in tissues of affected newborns or fetuses, it is currently difficult to assess the magnitude of increase of microcephaly prevalence in Brazil, as well as the role of other factors in the development of congenital neurological conditions. Meanwhile, health agencies and medical organizations have issued cautious guidelines advising health care practitioners and expectant couples traveling to, returning from, or living in affected areas. Analogous to dengue virus (DENV) epidemics, ZIKV has the potential to become endemic in all countries infested by Aedes mosquitoes, while new mutations could impact viral replication in humans, leading to increased virulence and consequently heightened chances of viral transmission to additional naive mosquito vectors. Studies are urgently needed to answer the questions surrounding ZIKV and its role in congenital neurological conditions.

中文翻译：

---

寨卡病毒在不良胎儿和新生儿结局中的新作用。


寨卡病毒（ZIKV）在美洲的迅速传播及其与巴西数千例小头畸形疑似病例的潜在关联以及格林-巴利综合征的较高发病率符合国际关注的突发公共卫生事件的条件。世界卫生组织，2016年2月。两个月后，美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）宣布，现有证据支持产前寨卡病毒感染与小头畸形和其他严重脑部异常之间存在因果关系。小头畸形可由多种因素引起，其临床过程和预后难以预测。其他已证实具有致畸性的病原体早在当前寨卡病毒流行之前就已被鉴定出来。尽管出现母体感染迹象和/或受影响的新生儿或胎儿组织中存在 ZIKV 的病例数量不断增加，但目前很难评估巴西小头畸形患病率增加的程度以及其他因素在该病中的作用。先天性神经系统疾病的发展。与此同时，卫生机构和医疗组织发布了谨慎的指南，为前往、返回或居住在受影响地区的医疗保健从业者和准夫​​妇提供建议。与登革热病毒 (DENV) 流行病类似，寨卡病毒有可能在所有受伊蚊感染的国家流行，而新的突变可能会影响病毒在人类中的复制，导致毒力增加，从而增加病毒传播给其他幼蚊媒介的机会。迫切需要研究来回答有关 ZIKV 及其在先天性神经系统疾病中的作用的问题。