Some ‘Zika kids’ try school, others fight to survive
FREI MIGUELINHO (AP) — On Tuesdays, 18-monthold Joaquim Santos spends an hour sitting by himself in a corner of a special needs classroom in this small city in northeast Brazil, one of the country’s poorest regions and one hit hard by the Zika virus.
Two harried teachers look on as other toddlers play around Joaquim, who has severe developmental delays after being born with a small head.
As limited as Joaquim is in the early education classroom, his family and doctors said he is lucky to be there.
“When Joaquim was born, I thought he was going to be in a vegetative state forever,” said his mother, Maria de Fatima Santos. “I thought my life was going to be in a hospital.”
Three years ago, an outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil’s impoverished northeast led to thousands of babies being born with a birth defect called microcephaly. The virus is spread by mosquito and scientists said it could lead to congenital defects in fetuses of mothers.
Today, some of the children born during the outbreak are trying school for the first time — in very limited capacities — while others have died or are struggling to survive, hindered by health and developmental problems.
Dr. Epitacio Rolim of the Getulio Vargas Hospital in Recife, where many children with Zika-related birth defects are treated, said there are still myriad unknowns.