Health officials in Mexico have confirmed the first case of a Zika-related severe birth defect known as microcephaly in a newborn baby in the North American country.
Mexico’s Health Ministry reported the case in a statement on Friday, adding that the premature child had died at birth.
The statement further said the baby had been born to a 25-year-old woman from the southern province of Oaxaca on November 5, but it took several months for the ministry’s researchers to confirm the defect, caused by the virus.
Microcephaly is an untreatable condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and undeveloped brains.
According to official figures, of the 7,634 cases of Zika infection confirmed in Mexico from November 2015 through the end of last month, 4,252 cases were reported in pregnant women.
The virus was first detected in Brazil in 2015 and has since been spreading explosively to more than 30 countries, particularly in South America.