Resumo:
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in humans was first documented in
Brazil in 2015, causing an epidemic and being associated with serious neurological disorders
in the fetus. Objective: To describe the clinical, neurophysiological and neuroimaging findings of children with microcephaly associated with congenital ZIKV infection. Study design: Study
retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional. Methods: Review of electronic medical records of
children with congenital microcephaly, whose mothers were exposed to ZIKV during pregnancy and received at a child rehabilitation center in Salvador - Brazil, evaluated by an interdisciplinary team following standardized procedures and investigating other congenital infections
correlated. Results: Of the 102 children evaluated, 81% of mothers reported symptoms of ZIKV
in the 1st trimester of pregnancy; 54% of children had severe microcephaly; and all children at a mean age of 4.6 months (2.6 SD) had brain abnormalities in the findings of
neuroimaging, the most frequent being: cerebral atrophy (92.1%), ventriculomegaly (92.1%),
malformation of cortical development (85.1%) and cortico-subcortical calcifications (80.2%).
Anomalies were also found in neurological examinations (97.0%), the most common being
hypertonia/spasticity (97.0%), neurodevelopmental delay (92.8%) and hyperreflexia
(73.3%); the abnormal results of neurophysiological exams showed epileptogenic activity in 56.3% of cases, hearing impairment in 17.3% and visual impairment in 14.1%; the
arthrogryposis was detected in 10.8% of children. Conclusion: This group of children presented
clinical criteria and neuroimaging for congenital ZIKV infection syndrome (CZS), with
high frequency of brain abnormalities and early-onset neurological manifestations; thus suggesting that microcephaly may be associated with a more severe spectrum of SCZ-related neurological manifestations.
