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Articles

Prenatal and Postnatal Zika Intrauterine Infection: Diagnostic Imaging Techniques and Placental Pathology

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Pages 207-215 | Received 05 Aug 2022, Accepted 23 Aug 2022, Published online: 20 Sep 2022
 

Abstract

Introduction: Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus) in the genus Flavivirus and Flaviviridae family. In November 2015, several cases of microcephaly in Northeastern of Brazil suggested ZIKV involvement. Case Report: A 33-year-old primigravida developed fever and cutaneous rash at 7th week of gestation (WGA). The ultrasound and MRI examination showed head circumference < 5th centile and enlargement of lateral ventricles. The infant was delivered at 39th WGA with microcephaly. Microscopy of the placenta showed chronic villitis and intervillitis, nodular stromal fibrosis in the stem villi, and vascular thickening. Postnatal CT showed collapsed cranium due to growth impairment of the suprathalamic brain, multiple cerebral calcifications, parenchymal atrophy, and ventricular dilatation. Now, at 6 years old, the child suffers from severe neurologic symptoms, including seizures. Conclusion: This case gathers images of prenatal and postnatal period, and placental histopathology. The long-term follow-up highlights the dramatic neurological sequelae induced by ZIKV.

Institutional review board statement

Our investigations were carried out following the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975, revised in 2013. According to Italian legislation, Ethical Approval for a single case is not required, as long as the data are kept anonymous and the investigations performed do not imply genetic results.

Informed consent statement

The current Italian legislation neither requires the family’s consent or ethical approval for a single case, as long as the data are strictly kept anonymous. Parents’ consent was completely waived, according to the Italian Authority of Privacy and Data Protection ("Garante della Privacy": GDPR nr 679/2016; 9/2016 and recent law addition number 424/19th of July 2018; http://www.garanteprivacy.it).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Data availability statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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