Zika virus: how a family lives with a child with microcephaly
'15.04.2018'
Source: USA Today
The first child born in the continental US with birth defects caused by the Zika virus is almost 2, and he lives in New Jersey.
About his life told the publication USA Today.
Dara Giron Funes smiles, laughs and sometimes turns over. It seems that this is not enough for a two-year-old child, but for a baby with microcephaly this is an extraordinary progress.
A girl can keep her head upright for a few seconds, but can neither sit nor stand. At the moment, Dara has reached the stage of development for a healthy child at the age of 3 months.
Her eyes turn to the voice of an 7-year-old brother or mother, but doctors say that a girl can only see light and shadow, and that she does not distinguish between objects and, moreover, does not see faces.
Darya's mother, 32-year-old Claudia Funes, believes that one day her daughter will be able to walk and talk, and does everything possible to make this happen.
“I know she has microcephaly, but I don’t want to believe everything the doctors say,” Claudia said.
Dara's family brought her home to Honduras shortly after her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey, in May 2016. But in 2017, they decided to return to New Jersey, hoping for a higher level of medicine in the US, which would give the girl a chance for a better life, despite her disability.
Zika virus infection worldwide declined in the 2017 year, after a surge in the 2015-2016 years in the Western Hemisphere. No one knows if the virus will return again. The World Health Organization no longer refers to it as a “public health emergency causing international concern”, and the world has gradually forgotten about this infection.
But the Dara family and 280 people in the US, as well as thousands of families in Central and South America, can never forget about this virus, because they see its influence on their children every day.
In varying degrees and combinations, Zeke lowered the brain activity of his little victims, blurred or eliminated their eyesight, dulled their hearing, damaged the muscles of the limbs.
Never before has a disease transmitted by a mosquito crossed the placental barrier in pregnant women, causing so much damage to their fetuses. According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control, one of the 20 babies born to mothers infected with Zika in the US has some abnormalities caused by this virus.
But many anomalies of their development may still not be detected, because doctors at the moment cannot give a long-term prognosis for such children.
Even babies who have not yet had any symptoms, but were born from mothers with Zika virus, cannot be safe, because doctors cannot guarantee that the virus has not affected them and that the symptoms will not manifest in the future. in the form of learning problems or developmental delays.
And children born with microcephaly will remain forever disabled, because it is impossible to correct the brain damaged during fetal development, but you can try to maximize the knowledge and skills that are available to these children.
Therefore, the parents of the Gifts go through unknown territory, not knowing what awaits them in the future.
Dara is a US citizen, since she was born in this country, the girl receives health insurance through NJ FamilyCarethe program Medicaid in new jersey. Her father, a journalist Christian Giron, has a working American visa, the family entered the US legally.
Claudia is working with an early correction program in New Jersey, through which Darah is being treated.
Every weekday they visit one or two doctors; The child receives 10 physical therapy sessions daily; sensory therapy with brushes and sponges touching the skin of Dara; music (she likes Andrea Bocelli) and six meals of vegetables a day.
A nanny looks after the eldest son of the family. Claudia was a marketing manager for an international corporation in Honduras and a college teacher. But now her only time-consuming job is caring for Dara.
The mother explains her decision to abandon her career and look after her daughter so that doctors cannot give a guarantee of how long the girl will live, and the mother would like to spend all her time with her.
The couple shares their successes with other families in which there are children with microcephaly, but there is no opportunity and resources to provide the child with the necessary care. For them, Claudia created a page in Facebookwhere he talks about the procedures and recommendations of specialists.
It all started in December 2015 in Honduras with a mosquito bite, a few months before Dara was born.
Zika is transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, through blood transfusions, sex with an infected partner, and from pregnant women to a developing fetus.
Christian Giron, the baby's father, was the first to discover Ziki's classic symptoms: a rash all over his body; muscle pain; red itchy eyes; high temperature.
But Claudia in the first trimester of pregnancy faced only with a rash, which passed through the day. Then she decided that it was an allergy to a new detergent used by her cleaning lady.
They both went to the doctors, they attributed antibiotics, but Claudia refused to take them, because she was afraid to harm her developing fetus.
Honduras is one of more than 75 countries where Zika mosquitoes are common.
A few months after Christian's illness, the couple went on an ultrasound scan to find out if they would have a boy or a girl.
During the procedure, the doctor noted "something strange with the head of the child." The physician suggested that the anomaly could disappear by itself in the course of pregnancy and suggested that the couple wait until the next ultrasound at a later date.
On the 7 month of pregnancy, the couple found out the worst: the baby’s head stopped growing, and they suggested that the girl could get microcephaly.
In Honduras, no blood test was performed on Zika. Claudia was not sure that she had a virus. She hoped that the doctor was mistaken and the problem would be fixed.
Her mother, a microbiologist, took a blood sample from her daughter and sent him to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. By the time the results were received, Claudia had given birth to Daru.
In the last month of pregnancy, a woman flew to the United States to visit relatives. She was supposed to return to Honduras on June 8, and the baby was to be born on June 30.
But on May 27, she felt bad, and doctors advised her to do a cesarean section due to a lack of amniotic fluid. She wanted to return to Honduras for the procedure, but she was told that it was too great a risk for the child, and the woman decided on a C-section in New Jersey.
After the procedure, the doctors were surprised that the child could breathe on his own, cried and seemed perfectly normal except for the size of his head. It was the first baby with microcephaly, born in the continental United States.
Claudia was discharged from the hospital after 2 of the day, but Daru was kept there for 25 days.
When the family returned to Honduras, Claudia and Christian brought Daru to the local doctors, who prescribed medicines for her that did not work. And the couple decided to transport the child back to New Jersey, where doctors told them about the constant daily procedures of various therapies.
