Study: Zika Virus Infects and Kills Fetal Cerebral Cortex Cells. (Now we know why babies have small heads)

Study: Zika Virus Infects and Kills Fetal Cerebral Cortex Cells

This birth defect can cause babies to be born with an unusually small head and inhibited brain development.The scientists, who made their findings based on experiments performed with lab-grown human stem cells, discovered that the Zika virus is attracted to and infects the cells that go on to form the brain’s outer layer, known as the cerebral cortex.

While they admit their findings do not provide absolute proof of a link between Zika and microcephaly, the researchers say that discovering vulnerability of the cortex forming cells to the virus is significant.A connection between Zika and microcephaly arose from last year’s spread in the virus throughout the Americas and a significant increase in the cases of microcephaly, especially in Brazil.

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