Consequences of Zika virus infection during fetal stage and pregnancy safe drugs: An update

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV), is a member of the Flaviviridae family and cause congenital microcephaly and Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome (GBS). The fetus of the mothers infected with ZIKV during first trimester are suffered from severe neurological damage like change of head shape and circumference celled microcephaly, convoluted scalp, deformed joints and vision and hearing loss. Its capability to infect fetus caused Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The information related to ZIKV infecting pregnant women and safe drugs were retrieved from the authentic published resources available on Medline, Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Science Direct and other scientific databases. The retrieved information has been compiled and analyzed. Microcephaly is a rare paediatric condition, implicated with severe consequences on fetus. The consequences of ZIKV infection to the fetus, statistical analysis summarizing association of microcephaly with ZIKV infection with other teratogenic congenital disease manifestations like ZIKV infection and about the therapies which can work for fetus and pregnant women include the use of chloroquine, amodiaquine, sofosbuvir, macrolide antibiotic azithromycin, niclosamide, albendazole/mebendazole, palonosetron and use of convalescent serum. Present review explains techniques of virus detection in fetus. Detailed case study analysis of affected fetus and the mechanism by which virus cause damage to the tissues and the target of fetus might be helpful in future to prevent the detrimental effects of the virus.