Zika link to brain inflammation in adults
AAP
March 12, 2016, 9:52 am
Suspected of causing birth defects, the Zika virus also poses a threat to adults in the form of meningoencephalitis, a dangerous inflammation of the brain, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A team of French researchers found that a 81-year-old man who was infected with Zika during a cruise in the South Pacific developed meningoencephalitis after returning to France.
"Clinicians should be aware that (Zika virus) may be associated with meningoencephalitis," the authors wrote.
A number of viruses can cause meningitis, encephalitis and a combination of the two, among them the West Nile virus, which is transmitted by a different breed of mosquito from the one that carries Zika.
In this case, the scientists ruled out the presence of any other virus and detected Zika in the patient's cerebrospinal fluid.
While he showed no symptoms during the four-week cruise, the patient was admitted to the hospital in semi-comatose condition within 10 days of returning to Paris and took nearly a month to recover.
Results of the first studies of a possible connection between the Zika virus and congenital malformation and neurological disorders are expected in the next three-to-four months.
So far, only Brazil and French Polynesia have noted an apparent link between the presence of Zika and an increase in the number of babies born with an abnormally small skull, a condition known as microcephaly.
