Our babies are ‘little warriors’: how love is transforming tragedy in the wake of Brazil’s Zika outbreak

From The Telegraph
September 18, 2018

he birth of thousands of babies born with physical and mental disabilities as a result of the Zika virus may be heralding changing attitudes towards disabilities in Brazil.

In 2015 to 2016 Zika swept through Latin America and, while the virus usually produces fairly mild symptoms, this epidemic was linked to a spike in the number of babies born with birth defects to women who contracted the disease while pregnant.

Around 2,000 babies in Brazil were born with microcephaly – where the head circumference is smaller than normal – leading to developmental delay and physical problems. An unknown number of other children were born with other less severe impairments, also linked to the virus.

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