Report Indicates Link between Zika virus, Birth Defect
Original article from: Boston Herald posted on March 5, 2016. by Lindsay Kalter
A breakthrough report published yesterday could provide an important link between the Zika virus and the birth defect microcephaly, and will likely serve as a springboard for local research efforts into the mystery illness, Hub scientists say.
The paper, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, offers evidence that the virus targets developing brain cells — which could account for the potential link between Zika and a condition that causes babies to be born with underdeveloped brains and small heads.
“It could easily be the avenue for a direct link between Zika and microcephaly,” said Ron Corley, director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories in Boston, who was not involved in the study. “It’s very, very compelling.”
Scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Emory University and Florida State University found that the virus likely targets a type of cell that actively divides in the human brain between the second and fourth month of gestation.