In 33 years of practice, Rio de Janeiro obstetrician and gynecologist Isabella Tartari Proenca has helped countless expectant mothers through the anxieties of pregnancy and childbirth. But ever since an exotic virus called Zika hit Brazil a few months ago, she's run out of assurances. "I get calls and text messages all day long," Tartari told me. "My patients are terrified."
Who could blame them? Since May, when the national health ministry confirmed the first cases of Zika virus, the mosquito-borne disease has swept the country, infecting at least half a million people. While most victims escape with a low-grade fever, skin rashes and achy joints, some dire complications have ensued. Suspected to be among them is microcephaly, a condition that leads to exceptionally small infant head size, which causes lasting neurological damage and can lead to death.
Zika has since spread across Latin America. By Dec. 22, Brazilian authorities had confirmed 2,782 cases of microcephaly this year, a fivefold increase over the yearly average since 2010; 80 babies whose mothers tested positive for Zika were stillborn or died shortly after birth.