BARCELONA (AFP) -
Spanish
health authorities said they had detected the country's first known case
of the microcephaly birth defect in the foetus of a pregnant woman
infected with the Zika virus.
"A pregnant woman was infected by
Zika and dengue and the foetus has shown various defects," the health
authority of the Catalonia region said in a statement.
This was
Spain's first case of Zika-related microcephaly, where babies are born
with abnormally small heads and sometimes brain damage.
A total of
105 people in Spain have been infected with the mosquito-borne Zika
virus, according to official statistics from May 3.
Spanish
authorities have said all the infection cases -- including 13 pregnant
women -- are "imported cases" found in people either "from, or who have
visited affected countries" in Latin America.
The current Zika
outbreak began in early 2015 in Brazil, where some 1.5 million
infections have been reported. Since then, the epidemic has spread to
several other countries in the Americas.
Scientists believe the virus to be responsible for a surge in Brazilian infants born with microcephaly.
There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which in most people causes only mild symptoms -- a rash, joint pain or fever.
© 2016 AFP
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