Microcephaly epidemic related to the Zika virus and living conditions in Recife, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundStarting in August 2015, there was an increase in the number of cases of neonatal microcephaly in Northeast Brazil. These findings were identified as being an epidemic of microcephaly related to Zika virus (ZIKV) infection. The present study aims to analyse the spatial distribution of microcephaly cases in Recife (2015–2016), which is in Northeast Brazil, and its association with the living conditions in this city.MethodsThis was an ecological study that used data from reported cases of microcephaly from the State Health Department of Pernambuco (August 2015 to July 2016). The basic spatial unit of analysis was the 94 districts of Recife. The case definition of microcephaly was: neonates with a head circumference of less than the cut-off point of −2 standard deviations below the mean value from the established Fenton growth curve. As an indicator of the living conditions of the 94 districts, the percentage of heads of households with an income of less than twice the minimum wage was calculated. The districts were classified into four homogeneous strata using the K-means clustering algorithm. We plotted the locations of each microcephaly case over a layer of living conditions.ResultsDuring the study period, 347 microcephaly cases were reported, of which 142 (40.9%) fulfilled the definition of a microcephaly case. Stratification of the 94 districts resulted in the identification of four strata. The highest stratum in relation to the living conditions presented the lowest prevalence rate of microcephaly, and the overall difference between this rate and the rates of the other strata was statistically significant. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test demonstrated that there was a strong association between a higher prevalence of microcephaly and poor living conditions. After the first 6 months of the study period, there were no microcephaly cases recorded within the population living in the richest socio-economic strata.ConclusionThis study showed that those residing in areas with precarious living conditions had a higher prevalence of microcephaly compared with populations with better living conditions.

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Antiviral peptides as promising therapeutic drugs

“…Because of its specificity-it requires a phosphorylation step mediated by a viral protein-this molecule causes lower toxicity for the host when compared with previously used treatments [10,11]. Unfortunately, the low efficacy of antiviral treatments is still evidenced by the ever-increasing reports of viral resistance [12][13][14], concomitant viral infections [15], and the emergence and re-emergence of viral epidemics in relatively short periods of time, as observed for H1N1, Ebola and zika virus (ZIKV) only in the first 5 years of the present decade [16][17][18][19][20]. Therefore, the demand for production of new antiviral drugs is higher than ever, with increased preference for molecules capable of presenting broad-spectrum activity [21].…”

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“…Brazil is the Latin American country most affected by ZIKV, with approximately 1,500,000 cases reported between 2015 and 2016 and an increase of about 20 times in cases of microcephaly relative to previous years [9,10]. Likely contributors to the quick spread of ZIKV and its vector include global warming, climate change in association with El Niño, poverty, and a lack of population awareness, reflected clearly by the epidemic's intensity in the poor regions of northern and northeastern Brazil [9,10]. The number of reported ZIKV cases in Brazil declined from 205,000 in 2016 to 13,000 in 2017, likely due mainly to population immunity [10].…”