A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States and conducted by Agamenon Magalhães Hospital in Brazil shows a link between the development of deafness in babies and women who have suffered zika during pregnancy.
Daniel Salas, Health Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, said that in fact, this is one of the consequences of the disease.
In Costa Rica, however, scientist must wait a reasonable amount of time to study the consequences of the virus in babies born to infected women, since it is a relatively new disease.
The study indicates that of 5.8% of the 70 children studied, younger than 10 months with microcephaly and zika infection, between November 2015 and May 2016, were positive for sensorineural deafness, which is the medical term for the total or partial inability to hear sounds in one or both ears.
Researchers indicate that all children born to women infected with the virus have to undergo a complete physical examination, a neurological assessment, a postnatal ultrasound examination, a standard hearing test, and the zika virus test.
So far, no deaf children have been found in Costa Rica, in relation with zika virus, but other congenital anomalies such as microphalies, cysts or brain calcifications have been detected.
At the moment 26 pregnant women have zika and one more case is still to be determined.