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Congenital microcephaly unrelated to flavivirus exposure in coastal Kenya
- Source :
- Wellcome Open Research
- Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) was first discovered in East Africa in 1947. ZIKV has caused microcephaly in the Americas, but it is not known whether ZIKV is a cause of microcephaly in East Africa. Methods: We used surveillance data from 11,061 live births at Kilifi County Hospital in coastal Kenya between January 2012 and October 2016 to identify microcephaly cases and conducted a nested case-control study to determine risk factors for microcephaly. Gestational age at birth was estimated based on antenatal ultrasound scanning (‘Scanned cohort’) or last menstrual period (‘LMP cohort’, including births ≥37 weeks’ gestation only). Controls were newborns with head circumference Z scores between >-2 and ≤2 SD that were compared to microcephaly cases in relation to ZIKV exposure and other maternal and newborn factors. Results: Of the 11,061 newborns, 214 (1.9%, 95%CI 1.69, 2.21) had microcephaly. Microcephaly prevalence was 1.0% (95%CI 0.64, 1.70, n=1529) and 2.1% (95%CI 1.81, 2.38, n=9532) in the scanned and LMP cohorts, respectively. After excluding babies Conclusions: Microcephaly was prevalent in coastal Kenya, but does not appear to be related to ZIKV exposure; the ZIKV response observed in our study population was largely due to cross-reactive responses to DENV or other related flaviviruses. Further research into potential causes and the clinical consequences of microcephaly in this population is urgently needed.
- Subjects :
- Microcephaly
Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty
030231 tropical medicine
Population
Medicine (miscellaneous)
wc_524
Dengue virus
medicine.disease_cause
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Zika virus
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
education
education.field_of_study
biology
business.industry
Flavivirus
Congenital microcephaly
Gestational age
Articles
qs_675
biology.organism_classification
medicine.disease
3. Good health
Cohort
Population study
Small for gestational age
qw_160
business
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2398502X
- Volume :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Wellcome open research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4f4043499f864904117617b8cc6354c3