Thousands of babies in South America were born with birth defects due to 2016’s Zika virus outbreak.
Babies were especially prone to defects like microcephaly, a condition which makes the head unusually small.
Now, new research has been able to determine what makes babies so susceptible to the disease. The virus suppressed a pregnant woman's immune system, according to the Daily Mail. This enables Zika to spread putting an unborn baby into harm’s way.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. They also discovered the virus targets white blood cells.
"Pregnant women are more susceptible to Zika virus because pregnancy naturally suppresses a woman's immune system so her body doesn't reject the fetus—essentially it's a foreign object,” Dr Jae Jung, the senior author of the study and Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine told the Daily Mail. "Zika exploits that weakness to infect and replicate," he added.
The study's findings are a step towards finding ways to improve health of unborn babies and pregnant women, as well as understanding the issue with Zika that is a growing problem due to global warming and climate change.
