Zika could cause abortions even in women without symptoms

The Zika virus may cause spontaneous abortions and intrauterine fetal deaths even in women who have never had symptoms of disease, concludes a study published today. by Nature Medicine

. conducted an experiment with 50 primates, including rhesus monkeys, and found that "26% of non-human primates lost their pregnancy despite the absence of symptoms." were infected with the virus

. This leads the authors to conclude that there may be many more women than women who lose their fetuses by this virus, which is transmitted by the bite of a mosquito or by relationships

In their experience, the experts analyzed the evolution of non-human primates that had been infected with the virus in the early stages of life. and who had no symptoms of the disease, which can usually be fever, rashes, headaches muscular and conjunctivitis.

"This is the first time that we have been able to categorically demonstrate that miscarriages (before twenty weeks of gestation) and intrauterine fetal deaths (after this period ) related to Zika occur in nonhuman primates without symptoms "says Daniel Streblow, of the Genetics and Vaccination Treatment Institute of the National Primate Research Center of Oregon.

"Examining this important issue will help us better understand how the Zika virus damages the placenta and studies how to avoid the tragic end of pregnancy that can cause," he adds.

Up to now, studies on the virus had only analyzed the abortions and stillbirths which thus, a recent survey of women known to have been infected with revealed that 5.8% experienced a miscarriage and a birth of 1.6% In addition to the loss of pregnancy, the Zika virus first identified in the 1950s in monkeys forests of Zika in Uganda, can cause severe infections. In the United States, cases have been detected, particularly in Texas, Florida, and New York, and outbreaks have occurred in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and parts of the country. Caribbean and Central and South America.