Two years after the height of the Zika outbreak, we’re still learning more dangers of the virus.
New research published in Nature reports that Zika infection greatly increases risk of miscarriages and stillbirths. It’s not the possibility of these effects that surprises scientists. They knew of some risk, but the research shows that chances could triple what recent calculations estimated.
When the Zika outbreak began, it was largely feared for the birth defects it could cause. Because of the 2018 study, we now know infection can also lead to placenta damage, which in turn may result in a loss of pregnancy.