About eight weeks into her pregnancy, Patricia Campassi’s body began to ache and she developed a rash. Doctors at her local maternity clinic in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, put her condition down to a food allergy.

After a few days, she recovered and for the next five months everything appeared to be fine. But in the final weeks before the birth of her son, Lorenzo, the scans began to show that his brain was not developing properly.



“It was a terrible shock,” she said. “It still is.”



Now aged one and half months, Lorenzo was born with microcephaly, a neurological disorder that stunts the growth of the baby’s cranium, limiting it to a circumference of less than 33cm. Typically, life expectancy for babies born with the condition is reduced. In 90% of cases, brain function is also reduced.

“It’s not easy,” said Campassi, 21. “There are days when I cry a lot, but we love each other very much. When he looks at me, that gives me strength.”



Lorenzo is one of four babies born with the condition recently in the city of Campinas, amid a nationwide rise in incidences of the condition. So far this year, 1,248 cases have been reported in 14 states across Brazil, compared with just 59 in 2014.



The north-east has been hit hardest, with 646 cases reported in the state of Pernambuco, where the local authorities declared a state of emergency on 1 December.



An autopsy on a baby born with microcephaly in the neighbouring state of Ceará revealed the presence of the Zika virus, a disease carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya.



In an unprecedented move, on 28 November the Brazilian health ministry linked the Zika virus to the microcephaly epidemic. Previously, the condition had been attributed to radiation or drug use by the expectant mother.



In a note published on its website, the ministry insists that more research is needed to clarify the connection between the virus and the condition. It states the period of greatest risk for pregnant women appears to be in the first three months of gestation.



Though it is not official policy, Cláudio Maierovitch, the director of the communicable disease surveillance department at the ministry of health, has advised women in high-risk areas to avoid attempting to conceive.



“Don’t get pregnant at the moment,” he said. “That’s the wisest course of action.”



Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation issued a worldwide epidemiological alert over the Zika virus, which has also been recorded in Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela.



The two health organisations called for improved prenatal care for pregnant women and newborns in affected areas, as well as renewed efforts to limit the spread of the Aedes aegypti.



The health minister, Marcelo Castro, warned on Wednesday that cases of Zika virus were expected to increase across Brazil during the summer. Warmer temperatures and frequent downpours speed up the breeding cycles of the insects.



In addition to the baby in Ceará, two others have died from the disease in recent months: a man in the north-eastern state of Maranhão and a 16-year-old girl in the Amazonian state of Pará.



The symptoms of the Zika virus are similar to those of dengue: high fever, aches and rashes. Less frequently, Zika also results in vomiting and diarrhoea. There is no cure, though the symptoms can be alleviated with fluids and usually pass after a week.

Brazilian health authorities have already had to deal with an epidemic of dengue fever this year, triggered in part by a severe drought in the south-east of the country. Water rationing led to Brazilians stockpiling water, providing fertile breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti.



Following the surge of the Zika virus, the nationwide campaign “10 minutes against dengue”, which instructed Brazilians on how to eliminate potential mosquito breeding sites from their homes, is to be relaunched as “10 minutes saves lives” in affected states.

