Zika Virus Birth Defect Cases on the Rise in Brazil; Experts Warn Mosquito-Borne Illness Likely to Spread in Southern America

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The number of babies being born with birth defects related to the ongoing spread of Zika virus in Brazil has increased.

Reuters reports that the Brazilian Ministry of Health has said that the suspected number of babies born with microcephaly has increased from 3,530 in Jan. 6 to 3,893 in Jan. 16 – an additional 363 cases in just 10 days.

It was earlier reported that microcephaly is a condition in which babies in the womb have incompletely developed brains and skulls, ending up either deformed or abnormally small. Microcephaly often leads to mental retardation.

Ministry officials claimed that he number of infant deaths related to the birth defect has also risen. They said it is now at 49.

However, as of now, authorities have only found six cases of microcephaly where the baby has been confirmed to be infected with Zika virus.

Currently, researchers have made progress in looking for evidences proving connections to the virus and microcephaly. Brazilian researchers from the Fiocruz biomedical center in Curitiba have announced that they have found the virus in the placenta of a woman who suffered a miscarriage, which suggests that it can reach a growing fetus.

Prior to this finding, researchers have only found the virus in the amniotic fluid of two pregnant women.

"This is a significant advance, but we still cannot scientifically state that Zika is the cause of microcephaly," said Jean Peron, an immunology expert from the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Biomedical Sciences.

Experts Warn About the Virus Spreading Through the United States

As the number of babies born with microcephaly increase, along with the widespread cases of Zika virus found in different territories across Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, experts warn that it's only a matter of time before the virus becomes spread throughout the U.S.

"It's not if, it's when," Mustapha Debboun, director of the mosquito control division at Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services in Houston where the first case of Zika in the U.S. happened, told CBS news.

Dr. Edward McCabe, senior vice president and chief medical officer of nonprofit group March of Dimes, also gave his comments.

"I think this is concerning. We need to take it seriously," he said.

As the virus is spread through the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which prefers warmer climates, experts warn the certain areas of the U.S. face a higher risk for transmission.

"I think that the southern Gulf Coast, South Florida and Southern California are probably all at risk for introduction, and Hawaii," said Dawn Wesson, an associate professor of tropical medicine at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans.