【8】健康生活 What Scientists Do and Do Not Know About Zika and Babies

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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

What Scientists Do and Do Not Know About Zika and Babies

June 08, 2018

FILE - In this July 26, 2016 file photo, a newborn baby with microcephaly rests at a maternity ward of the University Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio, File)

One-year-old Jose Wesley Campos, who was born with microcephaly, cries during a physical treatment at the AACD rehabilitation center in Recife, Brazil, Sept. 28, 2016.

What microcephaly means to children

Children with microcephaly can have substantial nervous system disabilities that affect vision and hearing. Some will never learn to walk or speak. Scientists are still studying the effects of less severe cases. Microcephaly does not necessarily reduce a person’s life expectancy, but it can lead to other problems that do. For example, many children have trouble swallowing, which makes them likely to breathe liquid or food into their lungs. This can lead to the lung disease pneumonia

What else is unknown?

Zika has also been linked to other problems in babies, like seizures, restricted ability to move and poor balance. Scientists are still trying to learn if Zika may cause problems that appear later in a child’s life, even for a baby who appeared healthy at birth.

Is there a vaccine for Zika?

No vaccine is currently on the market, though several are being developed. Scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have developed the best possible vaccine so far. It is being tested in 16 places in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.

Dr. Anthony Fauci leads the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is director of the agency. He said approval for the vaccine could come in 18 months if scientists get data from a future outbreak. Barring that, approval could take three or more years.

I’m Caty Weaver.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

pediatric - adj. of or relating to the medical care or illnesses of children

neurologist - n. a doctor who studies the nervous system and the diseases that affect it

mutation - n. a change in the genes of a plant or animal that causes physical characteristics that are different from what is normal

seizure - n. an abnormal state in which you become unconscious and your body moves in an uncontrolled and violent way

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