The Philippine government has announced that Zika cases in the country have risen to 57. According to the local health department, the latest case of Zika in the country involves a mother and her new-born baby girl from the island region of Visayas. Their health condition has been verified through a rapid diagnostic test, which the health agency said is not a confirmatory method of diagnosing Zika.

According to reports, the mother, who delivered her baby normally, never showed any signs of obtaining Zika virus during the duration of her pregnancy. However, when the baby was born, doctors noticed that her head is smaller than the usual size compared to that of new born babies. Furthermore, the baby was also born with encephalocoele. This is a rare type of birth abnormality which may be detrimental because this involves a defective neural tube affecting the part of our brain located in between the eye area.

ABS-CBN reported that experts obtained samples from the mother and the child. These were sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). Here, confirmatory tests using Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction will verify if they have Zika virus. The local health department further added that out of the 57 Zika cases, 38 patients were female and 19 were males, ranging from 7 years to 59 years old.



Rappler also reported that the Zika virus spread has currently affected five out of the I8 regions in the country. The highest percentage of victims come from the National Capital Region (NCR) where the country’s capital, Manila, is located. Moreover, the local health department is now monitoring 7 pregnancy cases confirmed to have been infected with Zika virus.

According to Dr. Karin Nielsen,a pediatrician from the University of California, the problem with the spread of cases involving children born with small heads is not “as astrophysical as what had been projected.” Last year, Latin America and the Caribbean recorded low figures of Zika cases.