Meningitis Zika virus also appears to be a threat to adults

Dangerous Zika virus can obviously also harm adult brains
The Zika virus, which is suspected of causing neonatal skull malformations, may also harm the brains of adults. French researchers report a man who has apparently received a meningitis due to the pathogen.

Especially dangerous for the unborn
For months, the dangerous Zika virus has been spreading in several Central and South American countries. Chance of the pathogen was brought by travelers in other regions of the world. In recent months, several Zika cases were also known in Germany. The pathogen is especially dangerous for the unborn. But now French scientists have also warned of potential harm to adults. According to the experts, a man has apparently received meningitis from Zika.

According to the latest findings, the Zika virus can also seriously damage the brains of adults. (Image: Kletr / fotolia.com)

Zika may harm adult brains
The Zika virus is not fatal and leads according to health experts in about 20 percent of infected people to flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches and sometimes rash. The pathogen is also responsible for thousands of cases of microcephaly in babies. The children are born with an unusually small head, which can lead to brain malformations. As French researchers have now reported in the journal "New England Journal of Medicine," the pathogen apparently can also harm the brains of adults.

Virus detected in cerebrospinal fluid
In the article, the scientists described the case of an 81-year-old man who had been taken to a hospital in Creteil near Paris after a cruise in January. It is said that the Zika virus was found in his spinal fluid. According to the data, the patient who was completely healthy before his cruise in the Pacific had suffered from a high fever and paralysis and had since fallen into a coma. In the clinic a brain and meningitis was diagnosed. Meanwhile, the patient is doing a little better.

Still no clear proof
Guillaume Carteaux, co-author of the study, said, "This is the first case of this kind reported to our knowledge," according to a news agency AFP. While no other virus or virus is said to be a potential trigger except the Zika virus other infectious agents have been detected, but proof that Zika triggered the inflammation is not. Recently, another French team of researchers reported a possible association between the Zika virus and severe spinal cord inflammation. According to the article in the journal "EurekAlert!", The virus was detected in the spinal cord of a 15-year-old who had been admitted to the university clinic of the city of Pointe-à-Pitre in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe in mid-January with paraplegia. (Ad)