Zika Diaries: New Zika Associated Neurological Complication Found
Researchers from the World Federation of Neurology’s Work Group on Zika have reported the first confirmed case of a new Zika-associated neurological complication in adults.
The case, described in a paper published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences, occurred to a 62-year-old Honduran male patient who had traveled to Venezuela. The patient presented acute sensory polyneuropathy during the active phase of his ZIka infection.
“Our patient is the first confirmed Zika infection case report associated with an acute sensory polyneuropathy which began during the acute infectious phase,” said Professor Marco T. Medina, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras, in a press release. “This suggests a probable direct viral inflammatory process affecting sensory nerves, but an autoimmune etiology cannot be definitely excluded.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, peripheral neuropathy is a condition that develops as a result of damage to the peripheral nervous system – the vast communications network that transmits information between the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and every other part of the body. (Neuropathy means nerve disease or damage.)
There are many forms. Sensory nerve damage causes
a variety of symptoms because sensory nerves have a broad range of functions. Larger sensory fibers enclosed in myelin register vibration, light touch, and position sense. Damage to large sensory fibers impairs touch, resulting in a general decrease in sensation. Since this is felt most in the hands and feet, people may feel as if they are wearing gloves and stockings even when they are not. This damage to larger sensory fibers may contribute to the loss of reflexes.Loss of position sense often makes people unable to coordinate complex movements like walking or fastening buttons, or to maintain their balance when their eyes are shut. Smaller sensory fibers without myelin sheaths transmit pain and temperature sensations. Damage to these fibers can interfere with the ability to feel pain or changes in temperature. People may fail to sense that they have been injured from a cut or that a wound is becoming infected. Others may not detect pain that warns of impending heart attack or other acute conditions.
Zika virus is known to cause microcephaly with brain malformations in infants. There are also high occurrences of outbreaks of GuGuillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) associated with Zika virus infections. Other neurological conditions linked to Zika infection include meningoencephalitis or acute myelitis.
“Clinicians should be aware that Zika virus infection can also cause an acute infectious sensory polyneuropathy,” says Professor Marco T. Medina, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras, also a member of the WFN Zika Work Group and first author of the new publication. “Our patient is the first confirmed Zika infection case report associated with an acute sensory polyneuropathy which began during the acute infectious phase. This suggests a probable direct viral inflammatory process affecting sensory nerves, but an autoimmune etiology cannot be definitely excluded.”
