Study links Zika to temporary paralysis

Scientists have uncovered evidence that Zika could cause temporary paralysis, a new study of patients who developed the rare condition during an outbreak of the virus in Tahiti two years ago has revealed.

Zika is currently spreading with alarming speed across the Americas, with the World Health Organization declaring the epidemic as a global emergency several weeks ago. 

The surge in disturbing birth defects has also been linked to  Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological condition that mostly lasts for some weeks.

Before it spread to South America last year, the virus spread by mosquitoes had triggered outbreaks in the South Pacific on Yap island in Micronesia and in French Polynesia, including its largest island, Tahiti.

Researchers in Tahiti, France and elsewhere analysed blood samples from all 42 adults diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome from the 2013-14 outbreak and found signs of a earlier Zika infection.

When compared with patients who did not have the condition and also did not have Zika symptoms but were treated at the same hospital for other illnesses, researchers found that only half of that group of 98 had apparently been infected with the normally mild virus.

The journal Lancet has published the research online.

"The evidence that links Zika virus with Guillain-Barre syndrome is now substantially more compelling," said Peter Barlow, an infectious diseases expert  at Edinburgh Napier University who was not part of the study, Fox News reported.

The Lancet reports, ''This is the first study providing evidence for Zika virus infection causing Guillain-Barré syndrome. Because Zika virus is spreading rapidly across the Americas, at risk countries need to prepare for adequate intensive care beds capacity to manage patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome.''