Italian researches are now saying that they have proof that Zika can affect the brain of many adults. They believe that it may even damage the memory of adults.
A letter published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases speaks of a woman in Dominican Republic infected with Zika. Just nine days after the woman had came back from a tour of duty in the Dominican Republic, she went to a clinic because she had symptoms of a rash, headache and weakness. That them turned into trouble walking. The woman tested negative for dengue and chikungunya viruses but she did test positive for Zika. Signs of the virus showed up in the woman’s blood, urine, saliva and in her vagina. She stated she did not have sex while she was in DR. ‘
The team at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome states,
“Complete neuropsychologic examinations (on days nine and 10) showed mild deficits in attention and mental processing speed and mental flexibility and moderate deficits in verbal and nonverbal memory tasks. In our case, the patient reported early neurologic symptoms and moderate memory impairment in neuropsychologic examinations, all features consistent with the diagnosis of Zika virus-related encephalitis.”
They believe that Zika affects the brain in women saying,
“It raises the possibility that Zika is not simply a transient infection in adult humans and that exposure in the adult brain could have an effect on long-term memory or the risk for depression. Moreover, the presence of Zika virus in the genital tract supports the recommendation of safe sex practice for women returning home from areas with ongoing Zika virus transmission.”
Source: NBCNews
