First baby born to Zika-infected mother in Spain has no symptoms

The first baby to be born in Spain to a mother who had been infected with the Zika virus is out of danger and, for the moment, everything indicates that the child has not been affected by exposure to the disease, health service sources in Galicia have told EL PAÍS.

However, it has not yet been confirmed whether the newborn is suffering any after-effects.

Routine tests showed that the mother had been exposed to the virus during a stay in Venezuela

Doctors at the University of Santiago Hospital Complex are closely following the development of the youngster – who was also born prematurely – to avoid complications, the sources said.

The mother, who has since “completely recovered” from the virus, discovered she had been infected when she went to the Santiago de Compostela hospital at the end of February because she was about to give birth prematurely.

Routine tests showed that she might have been exposed to the virus between the fourth and fifth month of her pregnancy, a time that coincided with a stay in Venezuela.

Thirty-eight Zika cases have been diagnosed in Spain up until Monday, according to the Spanish Health Ministry

Although she had gone for a checkup at the time after feeling unwell, medics in the South American country were not able to confirm her exposure to Zika.

Thirty-eight Zika cases have been diagnosed in Spain up until Monday, according to the Spanish Health Ministry. Among them are two other pregnant women in Madrid and two more in Catalonia.

The World Health Organization Emergency Committee has recently said that there is more and more evidence linking the virus to serious neurological diseases such as microcephaly – a condition when babies are born with abnormally small heads.

English version by Nick Funnell.