Zika: a precise estimation of the neurological risks in unborn children

For more than two years now, the Institut Pasteur community has been hard at work to improve our understanding of the risks associated with Zika virus infection, especially in pregnant women. This week, the results of a study carried out in the West Indies on 546 women infected during pregnancy are published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research, involving scientists from Inserm, Guadeloupe University Hospital and the Institut Pasteur, revealed that the estimated risk of neurological defects in the fetuses or infants from these pregnancies is 7%. The risk is twice as high if infection occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy.

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