Abstract
Purpose :
To report ocular features of Zika virus (ZIKV) in infants with microcephaly in Colombia and Venezuela. To April 2016, a total of 65,726 cases of ZIKV disease were reported in Colombia, and 723,550 cases in Venezuela.
Methods :
We assessed the ophthalmological findings of 43 infants that had been clinically diagnosed with ZIKV-related microcephaly born between October 2015 and June 2016, and that presented ocular abnormalities in the cities of Maracaibo (Venezuela) and Cucuta (Colombia).
Results :
No ophthalmological abnormalities were identified in the mothers and they did not report ocular symptoms during pregnancy. Serology was negative in all infants for toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, syphilis and human immunodeficiency virus. Ocular manifestations were bilateral in all patients. Optic nerve findings in these infants consisted of hypoplasia with the double-ring sign, pallor, and increased cup-to-disk ratio, and were found in five (11.6%) patients. The macular abnormalities were mild to gross pigment mottling and lacunar maculopathy in 27 (62.8%) and 3 (6.9%) of the patients, respectively. Chorioretinal scarring was found in three (6.9%) patients. Congenital glaucoma was found in 5 (11.6%) patients characterized by the clinical triad of epiphora, photophobia and blefarospasm.
Conclusions :
Forty-three infants with microcephaly had severe ocular abnormalities all patient with bilateral involvement; these infants were born after a ZIKV outbreak in Colombia and Venezuela. The posterior ocular findings were focal pigment mottling, chorioretinal atrophy with a predilection for the macular area, congenital glaucoma and optical nerve hypoplasia, as well as optic disc abnormalities. These findings can contribute to our understanding in the diagnosis of ZIKV congenital infection in children with congenital microcephaly. Further studies will assess the visual significance of these alterations.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.