×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

Nicaragua confirms first microcephaly birth linked to Zika virus

by Reuters
Friday, 26 August 2016 19:00 GMT

A family sits on the street while a health worker fumigates inside a home at a neighborhood after Nicaragua's government declared an epidemiological alert due to the increase of dengue cases and Zika in Managua, Nicaragua May 9, 2016. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

Image Caption and Rights Information

Virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects such as microcephaly

MANAGUA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Nicaragua has confirmed its first case of a baby born with microcephaly linked to the Zika virus, authorities said on Friday.

"The girl was born very underweight, at less than four pounds (1.81 kg) and with confirmed microcephaly," said Rosario Murillo, government spokeswoman and the country's first lady.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects such as microcephaly. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.

(Reporting by Ivan Castro, editing by G Crosse)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->