Answering your questions about Zika virus
"The brain is developing at a rapid pace in infants. But it's even more rapid in utero. The neurons are increasing at an exponential rate, compared even to the first year of life," she said.And then there's the third group, which Zecavati labels "other.""Sometimes we can't even identify something, where the cause is unknown, including some microcephaly babies with normal brain function. A person may have a small head because of family genetics but they have normal intelligence," she said.
Dr. Edward McCabe, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the March of Dimes, told CBS News, "About 10 to 15 percent of all babies in the U.S. with microcephaly do not have abnormal brain development. They are a normal variation. It's not a birth defect." The prognosis for Zika-linked cases of microcephaly appears ominous, but it's still too early to know the full picture. Health officials in Brazil report some 4,000 babies have been born with microcephaly in recent months, and doctors there are still trying to understand the scope of the problem.
Dr. Angela Rocha heads up the effort to understand and manage the crisis at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil, at the epicenter of the Zika outbreak. She told CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, she's never seen anything like it. "It's a generation of babies with disability, which is a huge social, economic and public health problem," she said.
I'm hesitant to give a timeline," she said, because there's developmental variation even in healthy babies.Lots of questions still remain when it comes to Zika-linked microcephaly, but right now experts believe many babies whose moms were infected with the virus will face serious health challenges, possibly including disabling nerve damage.Zecavati said the stage of pregnancy that the mother was infected could affect how severe the impact is on the child. 
Exposure to infection in the first trimester of pregnancy -- when the baby's brain, spinal cord, heart and other organs are beginning to form, and when the neural tube along a baby's back is closing -- may lead to more severe problems."If exposure to the Zika virus occurs later in pregnancy when major brain structures have been formed, the findings may be different," Zecavati said.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scans) may give clues to when the virus was introduced and which parts of the baby's brain are most affected, she added.The March of Dimes' McCabe said the CDC is now recommending that women who are pregnant and who have visited one of the countries where Zika virus is spreading should get a medical work-up. "Even if they're trying to get pregnant," he added, seeing a doctor is a go
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