FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Vietnam reports first case of Zika-linked microcephaly

Vietnam reports first case of Zika-linked microcephaly

Hanoi - Vietnam has confirmed its first case of microcephaly thought to have been caused by the Zika virus, authorities said on Sunday.

A 4-month-old girl in the Central Highlands region's Dak Lak province, who was born with an unusually small brain, was reported by the government to have had symptoms in line with Zika-related microcephaly.

Antibodies specific to Zika were later discovered in both the child and mother, the General Department of Preventive Medicine said on Sunday.

"This is the case of a child with congenital malformations symptoms, suffering from a small head, most likely related to the Zika virus," the department said in a statement.

Zika is a virus causing symptoms similar to the flu. While most Zika patients recover quickly, the disease can cause brain malformations in unborn children, as well as other neurological disorders.

Nine people in southern Vietnam have been diagnosed with the virus in 2016. To combat the disease, citizens have been ordered to actively destroy sources of standing water where the mosquitos carrying the virus lay their eggs.

Vietnam has become the second country in the region to report microcephaly linked to Zika.

Thailand confirmed in September that two newborns were diagnosed with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus for the first time in South-East Asia.

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