A new neurological complication of infection with the Zika virus has been reported be a new study.

‘Acute sensory polyneuropathy during the active phase of infection with Zika virus has been reported in a new case.’

The paper presents the case of a 62-year-old Honduran male patient who had traveled to Venezuela and who developed acute sensory polyneuropathy during the active phase of infection with Zika virus. The patient's sensory polyneuropathy has largely remitted, but the improvement occurred over several months. 




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.
The World Federation of Neurology(WFN) established a Work Group on Zika to contribute expertise to the global response to the Zika crisis. Dr. England traveled to Honduras in May to collaborate and consult on local Zika cases.
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Source-Eurekalert