CHICAGO — The Zika virus might cause eye damage in babies born to women infected during pregnancy, a study suggests.
The study lacks decisive proof of any link with Zika and vision abnormalities, but as a precaution, the study authors recommend routine vision testing in infants born with microcephaly in areas where Zika infections have occurred.
Microcephaly, which has many causes, results in an abnormally small head and can involve brain defects. It has made headlines recently because of an apparent spike in cases in Brazil.
Scientists are still trying to determine if the Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitos, can cause microcephaly. Microcephaly complications can include vision woes, so whether Zika leads to eye damage can’t be determined.
The results were published online Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
Researchers found eye damage in 10 of 29 babies born with microcephaly at the Roberto Santos General Hospital in Salvador, Brazil. The issues include abnormalities in the retina and optic nerve.
The babies’ mothers were presumed to have developed Zika infections during pregnancy. Most reported rash, fever and joint pain, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Rubens Belfort of the Federal University of Sao Paolo.
A journal editorial by two Northwestern University eye specialists notes that infections other than Zika have been linked with similar eye problems, and calls the potential link with Zika “presumptive.” Drs. Lee Jampol and Debra Goldstein say it’s unclear if the eye lesions found in the study occur in babies without microcephaly, so they don’t recommend routine eye tests in all babies in Zika-infested regions. But vision tests are warranted for babies with microcephaly in those regions, so any affected infants can be followed and given glasses, eye patches or other treatment as they mature, Jampol said. He said the damage seen in the study is likely irreversible, but it’s too soon to know if any of the babies will be blind.
