Spanish woman with Zika virus gives birth to baby with microcephaly

A woman infected with the Zika virus gave birth on Monday to a baby with microcephaly in Barcelona, in what is probably the first case of its kind in Europe, according to the hospital where the infant was born.

The woman is believed to have caught the Zika virus while traveling in Latin America, the region where Zika has spread most widely. She was not identified, and her exact itinerary was not disclosed, media reported.

The microcephaly, a brain-damaging disorder, was diagnosed after the baby was born with a head circumference that is smaller than the norm. The baby was born by caesarean section after 40 weeks of pregnancy. The newborn did not require any resuscitation and doctors said the child’s vital signs were “normal and stable”. The baby will be put under close monitoring to identify other possible defects.

The health authorities in Barcelona announced in May that they had detected microcephaly in the fetus.

According to Spanish authorities, there have been 190 case of Zika infection reported, of which 26 are linked to women who were pregnant at the time of the diagnosis.