Brazil’s ‘Zika kids’ try going to school
Some fight to survive
FREI MIGUELINHO, Brazil — 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.
“When Joaquim was born I thought he was going to be in a vegetative state forever,” said his mother, Maria de Fatima Santos, who must take the boy to therapy sessions and medical appointments most other days of the week. “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 determined that it could lead to congenital defects in fetuses of mothers who were infected during pregnancy.
Today, some of the children born during the outbreak are trying school — 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 unknowns.
“How much they will learn or live, unfortunately, is a huge question mark.”
Zika began spreading in Latin America’s largest nation in April 2015 and exploded in 2016, with more than 260,000 cases of virus that year, according to the Health Ministry.
Joaquim has shown modest development. He can hold a pen and scribble on paper. He hears classmates recite letters of the alphabet, though he can’t speak.
He has also been included in school plays, all more than many other children with microcephaly.