Update: 230 microcephaly cases confirmed

Out of the 230 microcephaly cases in Brazil, 224 were confirmed by imaging tests (which showed typical changes caused by the disease) and six samples had been positive for Zika virus. According to the government, 282 cases were dismissed and 3,381 are still being tested.

Cases were reported in 764 municipalities across 21 Brazilian states, according to an epidemiological report released Wednesday (Jan. 20). Pernambuco state leads the statistics with 1,306 suspected cases, or 33% of the total. It is followed by Paraíba (665 cases), Bahia (496), and Ceará (216).

Since October 2015, health services are required to report any microcephaly cases due to the unexpected surge. In the first two weeks of 2016, 728 potential cases were reported. The ministry dismissed 282 reports. The condition has caused 49 deaths, six of which were confirmed to have been related to infection with Zika virus.

According to Cláudio Maierovitch, Communicable Disease Surveillance Director for the Ministry of Health, state healthcare services had been misinterpreting the protocol for reporting the cases, causing difficulties confirming them. The government then updated the protocol to solve interpretation conflicts. “We hope this will allow us to report on confirmed and dismissed cases more confidently going forward,” he said.

Brazilian laboratories can currently handle about a thousand zika diagnoses a month. This is expected to increase to 20,000 in the upcoming months. The director pointed out that the Ministry of Health is focusing on disease prevention by controlling Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit the disease.

Translated by Mayra Borges

* News report changed on 02/01/2016 at 18h45 to correct a piece of information. Unlike it has been reported, 230 cases of microcephaly were confirmed in the country instead of 230 Zika-related microcephaly cases.