Zika virus infection during pregnancy appears to cause a range of birth defects, such as joint, eye and ear abnormalities, in addition to microcephaly.
孕期感染寨卡热病毒会导致多种先天残疾，除了头小畸形外，还会导致关节、眼睛和耳朵畸形。
撰文/播音 Christine Herman 克里斯汀•赫尔曼
翻译 郭丰茹
校对 杨枭
Zika virus infection during pregnancy has been linked to the abnormal brain development called microcephaly. Now a study finds more evidence for the connection.
孕期感染寨卡热病毒已被证实和称为头小畸形的大脑异常发育有关。如今一项研究发现更多的证据来证明这种关联的存在。
Researchers at the CDC in the U.S. and the National Health Institute in Colombia found that the number of babies born with microcephaly in Colombia increased more than fourfold during a nine-and-a-half-month span in 2016 compared with the same span in 2015.
美国疾病控制中心（CDC）和哥伦比亚国家卫生研究所（National Health Institute in Colombia）的研究员发现，在2016年9个半月的时间段内，头小畸形的新生儿比2015年同一时间段增加了四倍之多。
“And the peak of Zika virus outbreak in pregnant women was followed approximately six months later with a peak of microcephaly reported in the country.”
“据美国国内报道，寨卡热病毒在孕妇中爆发性流行，六个月后，头小畸形新生儿出生达到峰值。”
Margaret Honein, Chief of the Birth Defects Branch at the CDC and a senior author of the study. She says the finding is compelling evidence that the highest-risk period for Zika virus infection is sometime in the first half of pregnancy.
玛格丽特•胡奈因（Margaret Honein）是美国疾控中心新生儿分部（Birth Defects Branch）的主任，也是这项研究的主要作者。她说这项发现有力地佐证了寨卡热病毒感染的高发期在孕期的前半段。
“So this both adds to the evidence and helps confirm that any country experiencing a large Zika virus outbreak should anticipate a large increase in microcephaly. This is not unique to one geographic location, such as Brazil. What we’re seeing in Colombia is very similar to what was reported in Brazil.”
“因此，这不仅是一项证据，还帮助证实了任何一个流行寨卡热病毒的国家都会预示着脑小畸形儿的出生。地理位置不会有太大的影响，比如巴西。我们了解到哥伦比亚和巴西的报道的数据是很相近的。”
The study was in the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report. [Esther Liliana Cuevas et al., Preliminary Report of Microcephaly Potentially Associated with Zika Virus Infection During Pregnancy — Colombia, January–November 2016]
这项研究发表在美国疾病控制中心死亡率和出生率周报（Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report）上。Honein says growing evidence now exists for an association between the virus and other defects related to a damaged central nervous system.
胡奈因表示有进一步的证据显示，病毒以及其他缺陷与中枢神经的损伤有关。
“These include defects like club foot, joint contractures where the joints are very, very stiff, and things like congenital deafness…and eye abnormalities.”
“这些缺陷包括畸形足，关节僵直性关节挛缩，或者失聪和眼部畸形。”
In the U.S., the most recent cases of local transmission of Zika have occurred in parts of Florida and Texas, and there are now more than 1,000 pregnancies with laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection, plus more than 2,000 more in U.S. territories.
在美国，最近的寨卡热病毒局部传播的案例出现在佛罗里达州（Florida）和德克萨斯州（Texas）的部分地区，实验室检测到有超过1000名孕妇感染寨卡病毒，美国境内有超过2000名感染者。
—Christine Herman
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