Neurological Findings in Children without Congenital Microcephaly Exposed to Zika Virus in Utero: A Case Series Study

Abstract

The Zika virus can induce a disruptive sequence in the fetal brain and is manifested mainly by microcephaly. Knowledge gaps still exist as to whether the virus can cause minor disorders that are perceived later on during the first years of life in children who are exposed but are asymptomatic at birth. In this case series, we describe the outcomes related to neurodevelopment through the neurological assessment of 26 non-microcephalic children who had intrauterine exposure to Zika virus. Children were submitted for neurological examinations and Bayley Scales-III (cognition, language, and motor performance). The majority (65.4%) obtained satisfactory performance in neurodevelopment. The most impaired domain was language, with 30.7% impairment. Severe neurological disorders occurred in five children (19.2%) and these were spastic hemiparesis, epilepsy associated with congenital macrocephaly (Zika and human immunodeficiency virus), two cases of autism (one exposed to Zika and Toxoplasma gondii) and progressive sensorineural hearing loss (GJB2 mutation). We concluded that non-microcephalic children with intrauterine exposure to Zika virus, in their majority, had achieved satisfactory performance in all neurodevelopmental domains. One third of the cases had some impairment, but the predominant group had mild alterations, with low occurrence of moderate to severe disorders, similar to other studies in Brazil.

Keywords: Bayley III; Zika virus; arbovirus; autism; coinfection; congenital Zika syndrome; infant health; neurodevelopment; neurologic manifestations; non-microcephalic children.

Figure 1

Qualitative description of the composite scores of the cognitive, language and motor domains for 26 non-microcephalic children exposed to the Zika virus in the intrauterine period, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.