The woman and her newborn baby, who were reported to have Zika virus infection, have tested negative of having the virus, the Department of Health (DoH) disclosed yesterday.
This was confirmed by no less that Health secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial yesterday.
“We have confirmation from RITM [Research Institute for Tropical Medicine] received yesterday [Friday] evening. It’s negative,” said Ubial.
Ubial said experts from RITM examined the samples of the mother and the baby from Western Visayas who was initially screened positive of having Zika virus antibodies in a rapid diagnostic test.
The said test however is not being considered confirmatory.
At the RITM, the samples were subjected to a confirmatory test on Zika virus using Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction.
The mother did not manifest any symptom of Zika virus throughout her pregnancyand even gave birth by normal spontaneous delivery.
However it was observed that the baby had a head that was smaller than usual but this though could be a case of microcephaly.
Microcephaly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared to babies of the same sex and age. It has been linked with seizures and intellectual disability among others. (Charina Clarisse L. Echaluce)