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A recent mutation may have created a strain of the Zika virus that has triggered a huge rise in the number of babies born with microcephaly, genetics researchers say.

The more dangerous form of Zika is believed to cause fetuses to abort, said Feiran Zhang, a researcher at Emory University. The new strain appears to trigger an immune response that allows the fetus to survive, but not without devastating brain defects.

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“So, microcephaly is not the worst outcome of Zika — spontaneous abortion is,” said Zhang, who presented the new findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Vancouver this week.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been detected in at least 23 countries in North and South America and has been linked to thousands of cases of babies born with microcephaly, a form of incomplete brain development. More than 2,000 children have been born with microcephaly in Brazil alone since the beginning of 2016, according to that country’s ministry of health.