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Summary
Since Late last year, when doctors in Brazil have warned that a wave of severe birth defects could be linked to a little-known virus called Zika, researchers have struggled to prove the link. Some in the media have questioned whether the reported increase in birth defects is real; others, particularly environmental activists have suggested that the virus was an innocent bystander, unfairly blamed for defects caused by chemicals or other factors. With three studies published last week, the chances that the virus was wrongly accused are fading. Two independent groups have shown that, at least in the laboratory, the virus infects forward to the development of brain cells, suggesting a mechanism by which it could cause the most striking of the observed birth defects: microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. A third study, after dozens of pregnant women in Brazil who have been infected, directly connects the infection to increased brain malformations. It also suggests that the virus can harm a developing fetus in other ways, perhaps by attacking the placenta and slowing the supply of nutrients. "This is the data we expected," said Daniel Lucey, an expert on global health at the University of Georgetown in Washington, DC
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