CLINICAL FINDINGS, NEUROLOGICAL COMPLICATIONS AND CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS RELATED TO CONGENITAL INFECTION BY ZIKA VIRUS

Abstract

After an unexpected increase in the number of microcephalic infants associated with a maternal history of exanthematous disease during pregnancy, it has been discovered that Zika virus can lead to congenital transmission infection the vertical with neurological and systemic repercussions. In the present study, we reviewed twenty-nine cases of children diagnosed with congenital infection by Zika virus and microcephaly, and described the main clinical findings, neurological complications and systemic congenital malformations. Fifty-one percent of the mothers reported the presence of symptoms suggestive of Zika Fever in the first trimester of pregnancy. With regard to the neurological complications detected, epilepsy was the most relevant, affecting 79% of the cases. The most frequent behavioral alteration was irritability (n = 4).  Fifty-one percent of the children presented language at the initial stage of guttural sounds (n = 15) and forty-one percent did not have complete cervical control (n = 12) when assessed at 24 months of life, configuring severe delay in the neurological development expected for the age. Ninety-three percent of the patients had some type of motor impairment. Among those affected, 100% presented motor pattern of spastic tetraparesis. Cardiac, renal and osseous malformations were the main ones found in the study (n = 9). The data of the present study aims to help the construction of scientific knowledge on the natural evolution of congenital infection by Zika virus and to contribute to the incorporation of new evidence to better describe the history of this disease.