Zika virus may have damaged more infants’ brains than previously thought, research suggests

Sizeable number of infants born with normal-sized heads later had neurological development problems

Children exposed to Zika virus during pregnancy should be monitored more closely, experts have warned, after a study suggested that the infection damaged more infants’ brains than previously thought.

Researchers initially established that babies born with small heads (microcephaly) went on to develop neurological or developmental problems, while infants born with normal head circumference (normocephalic) were thought to be at low risk.

But a new study, looking at infants born during Latin America’s Zika epidemic in 2015/16, suggests that a large number of children born with normal-sized heads had not developed properly at follow-up examinations.