Zika virus: Thailand babies diagnosed with microcephaly

Health ministry says tests remain inconclusive on third infant's condition amid concern over impact on tourism.

The World Health Organization has praised Thailand's
respond to spread of zika


Authorities in Thailand have confirmed that two cases of babies with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, were caused by the Zika virus, the first such cases found in Southeast Asia.

The health ministry said on Friday that tests remained inconclusive as to whether the third infant's condition was connected to Zika.

"Two of the three infants [tested] had microcephaly due to the Zika virus," Wicharn Pawan, a disease control official, told AFP news agency.


The World Health Organisation this week said any confirmed link in Thailand would be the first identified in Southeast Asia.

Zika causes only mild symptoms in most, including fever, sore eyes and a rash.

But pregnant women with the mosquito-borne virus risk giving birth to babies with microcephaly - a deformation that leads to abnormally small brains and heads.


There is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which has infected more than 1.5 million people in nearly 70 countries since last year, according to WHO, with Brazil the hardest hit.

While Zika has been present in Southeast Asia for years, there has been an uptick in the number of recorded cases in the region in recent months.

On Friday, WHO praised the reaction in Thailand where "authorities have been active in detecting and responding" to Zika, according to Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's regional director for Southeast Asia.

This week Thailand's health ministry said it was monitoring 36 pregnant women infected with Zika, three of whom recently gave birth to babies with microcephaly.


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