Microcephaly in Piauí, Brazil: descriptive study during the Zika virus epidemic, 2015-2016.

OBJECTIVE

to describe the occurrence and characteristics of microcephaly cases in Piauí, Brazil, during an epidemic of Zika virus infection in 2015-2016.

METHODS

descriptive study using data of live births from January/2015 to January/2016, obtained from the Information System on Live Births (Sinasc), the Public Health Events Registry (RESP) and the active search for medical records; mothers and live births were tested for dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, besides syphilis, toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes (STORCH).

RESULTS

of the 75 microcephaly cases, 34 were related to congenital infectious process; microcephaly prevalence was of 13.6/10 thousand live births; imaging exams confirmed that 34 live births presented calcifications, 23 had cerebral atrophies, 14 had lissencephaly, 12 had ventriculomegaly and 6 had dysgenesis; none tested positive for STORCH, dengue or chikungunya; 1 was IgM positive for Zika.

CONCLUSION

there was an outbreak of microcephaly in Piauí, possibly related to infection during pregnancy Zika virus.