Thailand: 2 babies born with Zika-related birth defects

By Max Constant

BANGKOK (AA) – Thailand’s health ministry confirmed Friday the country’s first case of Zika-related birth defects after two babies were born with microcephaly in what the World Health Organization (WHO) described as also a first for Southeast Asia.

The Khaosod news website quoted the ministry’s Kiattikun Prasert Tongcharoen as saying that tests confirmed that the microcephaly was a result of the babies’ mothers having been infected with the virus during pregnancy.

Tests on a third baby born with a small head have so fare been inconclusive, and a fourth woman infected with Zika while pregnant is under monitoring due to concerns her unborn child may be at risk.

Microcephaly is a birth defect in which babies have abnormally small heads that may signal that the brain is not properly developing.

In a statement confirming the Thai Zika-related microcephaly cases, WHO called on Southeast Asian countries to continue to take “decisive action to prevent, detect and respond” to the virus.

“Zika virus infection is a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of a pregnant woman and her unborn child,” WHO South-East Asia’s regional director Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh said.

“Thai authorities have been active in detecting and responding to Zika virus,” Singh added. “Thailand’s diligence underscores the commitment of health authorities to the health and wellbeing of the Thai public, and provides a positive example to be emulated.”

Zika is primarily transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito, and many countries in South America have been experiencing outbreaks of the virus -- with Brazil being particularly hard hit since reporting its first case in May 2015.

Doctors believe as much as 80 percent of those infected with Zika never develop symptoms, while those who have symptoms suffer from fevers, joint pain and rashes. The virus has been linked to serious birth defects, including microcephaly.

To-date, there is no vaccine or medicine available to treat Zika, which can also be transmitted sexually.