THE Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday, February 4, that the birth defect found in a newborn baby girl in Western Visayas was not caused by the Zika virus as suspected earlier.
DOH Secretary Paulyn Ubial said they received confirmation from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) that the baby has microcephaly and it was not related to Zika virus.
“We have confirmation from the RITM received yesterday afternoon. After using Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT PCR), it is negative!” said Ubial in a text message.
On Friday, the DOH said it is verifying a report that a mother and her full term, newborn baby girl were screened positive for Zika virus antibodies using a rapid diagnostic test.
The health department said the mother did not manifest any symptoms of Zika virus throughout her pregnancy and eventually gave birth by normal spontaneous vaginal delivery.
However, upon the birth of the child, the DOH said it was observed that the size of the baby's head is smaller than the usual and that she was born with encephalocoele, which is a rare type of birth defect of the neural tube that affects the brain, specifically in the area between her eyes.
To note, Zika virus is usually transmitted through the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes as well as sexual contact.
Zika infection is usually asymptomatic but has been linked to congenital malformation, such as microcephaly.
Meanwhile, Ubial said there are already a total of 57 Zika cases reported in the country as of February 2.
The National Capital Region (NCR) has the most number of cases with 20; followed by Calabarzon, 18; Western Visayas, 15; Central Luzon, 2; and Central Visayas, 2.
Of the 57 Zika cases reported, seven were confirmed to be pregnant women, including one from Las Piñas City, who already gave birth to a baby boy at full term without microcephaly; and one from Central Visayas, who had spontaneous abortion at nine weeks of pregnancy.
Of the seven pregnant cases, three came from Metro Manila, while Calabarzon and Central Visayas had two each. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)