Cranial bone collapse in microcephalic infants prenatally exposed to Zika virus infection

Abstract

Brazil has been experiencing an outbreak of Zika virus, a flavivirus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Since October 2015, more than 4,000 infants,1 born to mothers suspected to have contracted this infection during pregnancy, have microcephaly1,2 and CNS malformations (figure 1), including parenchymal and periventricular calcifications, ventriculomegaly, and cortical migration anomalies.2 This suggests marked viral neurotropism. Upon performing CT, cranial malformations (figure 2) with a pointed occiput are also observed.