0:00:02 > 0:00:05It came from nowhere, attacking babies in the womb.
0:00:05 > 0:00:09- TRANSLATION:- I was shocked when he was born like this, really sad,
0:00:09 > 0:00:12because I didn't know this illness existed.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18A mystery disease suspected of being carried by mosquitoes
0:00:18 > 0:00:21has now spread to 37 countries.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26These mosquitoes have adapted tremendously and very efficiently
0:00:26 > 0:00:29to the urban environment in tropical countries.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Thousands of babies have been born with microcephaly -
0:00:32 > 0:00:35abnormally small heads.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38- TRANSLATION:- It makes me sad to realise the kind of problems they're
0:00:38 > 0:00:42going to find in his little head because of this disease.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47'Tonight on Panorama - the riddle of the Zika virus.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51'Until we find the answer, more brain-damaged babies will be born.'
0:00:53 > 0:00:56So there will be a whole new spike in cases of microcephaly?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59We think there will be a whole new spike in cases.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03'Many babies will have a bleak future.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:06- TRANSLATION:- He can't walk, he can't talk, he can't see,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08and that's what his life is like.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28It's bath time for six-week-old Enzo.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It looks like a normal, happy domestic scene
0:01:33 > 0:01:36in north-eastern Brazil.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46But his mother, Juliana, knows Enzo isn't a normal healthy baby.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52- TRANSLATION:- When he was born, there was so much going on
0:01:52 > 0:01:54we didn't realise.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57We were so happy we cried with joy,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00but when he was in the baby ward I looked at him
0:02:00 > 0:02:03and a normal child, and I could see his head was smaller.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Enzo's a suspected Zika baby, born with an abnormally small head.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15He's likely to have brain damage.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17His eyesight's affected.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19His legs are displaced.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24- TRANSLATION:- I accepted it, because I know God gave him to me.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I can raise him no matter what his condition.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29I will always love him.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32He's my son. I've GOT to love him.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36'These parents aren't alone.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40'Nearly 5,000 babies have recently been born in Brazil
0:02:40 > 0:02:41'with this condition.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43'It's called microcephaly.'
0:02:45 > 0:02:47What do you think when you look ahead to him as a little boy
0:02:47 > 0:02:49and growing up?
0:02:49 > 0:02:51- TRANSLATION:- I pray
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and I trust God will make him grow up as a normal child.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03They're spraying the streets here against a mosquito
0:03:03 > 0:03:05they think is to blame.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06It carries the Zika virus,
0:03:06 > 0:03:11suspected of being the cause of the explosion in cases of microcephaly.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Recife, the capital of the tropical state of Pernambuco, used to
0:03:19 > 0:03:24be famous for its carnival, not a terrible epidemic of microcephaly.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28This February, as usual, people were out partying in the streets.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33But since carnival time a year ago, more than 1,400 babies in the area
0:03:33 > 0:03:36have been born with brain deformities.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40And, away from the celebrations, there's fear and uncertainty.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45So how and why did the Zika virus strike so many pregnant women here?
0:03:46 > 0:03:48How did the doctors figure it all out?
0:03:48 > 0:03:51And what are the authorities doing to fight the mosquito that
0:03:51 > 0:03:56spreads this devastating condition that affects babies in the womb?
0:04:01 > 0:04:05The first sign of something dreadfully wrong came last August.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Doctors at Recife's hospitals began seeing more than the normal
0:04:09 > 0:04:13handful of babies with the rare condition of microcephaly.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18I went with baby Enzo
0:04:18 > 0:04:21and his parents to meet Dr Vanessa van der Linden.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24She was the first to realise microcephaly cases
0:04:24 > 0:04:26were rising sharply.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33- TRANSLATION:- Lots of cases started to emerge.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35At the hospital where I work, in just one day,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39we had three babies born with microcephaly.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43There is a malformation of the brain...
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Dr Van der Linden noticed this infection caused scarring
0:04:47 > 0:04:52of a baby's brain in different areas from cases she'd seen before.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56In all brain, we have calcification in this part of the brain.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02- TRANSLATION:- There was something different about these cases,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05probably a new pathological agent or a new disease.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Dr Van der Linden has been inundated with cases like Enzo's.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29And your husband?
0:05:32 > 0:05:35I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40'Across town, in the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital, another
0:05:40 > 0:05:44'paediatrician was seeing more cases of microcephaly last summer.'
0:05:48 > 0:05:50- TRANSLATION:- I've been practising for 20 years now.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53I've seen cholera, diphtheria,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56a number of diseases which affect families,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00but unfortunately I've never seen anything like this.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08One of Dr Coeli's patients is five-week-old Christian.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10She's measuring his head.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14It should be bigger, but he has microcephaly, too.
0:06:14 > 0:06:1732cms, it's too small.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23- TRANSLATION:- At first, we couldn't understand what was going on.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26This sudden boom of children born with microcephaly.
0:06:26 > 0:06:2913 in a week, then ten more the week after.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Something strange was going on.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34That's when we reported it to the Health Department.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Within days, the Brazilian authorities declared
0:06:39 > 0:06:42a national public health emergency.
0:06:42 > 0:06:43That was in November.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49- TRANSLATION:- It caught our attention around 70% of these mothers had
0:06:49 > 0:06:51a rash at the beginning of their pregnancy,
0:06:51 > 0:06:52in the first three months.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Not all of them, but almost all.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00The rash was caused by Zika
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and tests revealed that somehow the virus had passed
0:07:03 > 0:07:07from the mother to some babies who developed microcephaly in the womb.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15- TRANSLATION:- We're 99% sure this microcephaly is caused by
0:07:15 > 0:07:17the Zika virus.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21But is there any other infection or any other factor associated
0:07:21 > 0:07:24with this that may be worsening the magnitude of this
0:07:24 > 0:07:26infection in children?
0:07:28 > 0:07:32'Like many women, Edernalia, Christian's mother,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34'didn't even know she'd been infected.'
0:07:34 > 0:07:36How were you in your pregnancy?
0:07:36 > 0:07:42- TRANSLATION:- It went well. I had no symptoms, absolutely nothing.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45So you didn't know you'd been bitten by a mosquito
0:07:45 > 0:07:47- or you had any problems?- No.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55- TRANSLATION:- While the woman is pregnant,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57she imagines her dream baby.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00She's been picturing a healthy, sound baby for nine months.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04She has plans for it, and when the child's born, it has microcephaly.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08The baby may have seizures.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10The routine of the whole family has to change.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14They have to be devoted to that child. It's sad.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Baby Christian has a chest infection
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and has to remain in hospital overnight.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29His grandmother, Damiana, stays to keep an eye on him.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41- TRANSLATION:- I feel frustrated. I keep asking God to help us.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44I don't know what this is or what's going to happen.
0:08:46 > 0:08:47His mother left the hospital.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50She's too nervous because of the whole situation,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52so I decided to stay.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55We don't know what to do or why the baby is like this.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07Zika has brought scientists from all over the world to Recife.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09They're urgently trying to understand
0:09:09 > 0:09:12the link between the mosquito, the virus and microcephaly.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16We cannot take appropriate measures
0:09:16 > 0:09:18unless we understand what's happening.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Professor Laura Rodrigues has flown in from London to head up
0:09:22 > 0:09:27research on Zika and microcephaly at a Recife university.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30They've had to start from scratch.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Zika, until November, October
0:09:34 > 0:09:37we had no idea that it could be so harmful,
0:09:37 > 0:09:39so there was very little research done,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42so we know very little about it.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45The Zika virus was first discovered almost 70 years ago
0:09:45 > 0:09:48in monkeys in Uganda.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53The first human case was discovered in Nigeria in the 1950s,
0:09:53 > 0:09:57but scientists don't know if there were any microcephaly cases here.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00From Africa, Zika spread slowly to Asia
0:10:00 > 0:10:04and turned up nine years ago in the Pacific islands.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09It wasn't until the outbreak in Brazil
0:10:09 > 0:10:13a link between Zika and microcephaly was spotted.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16That's when the Polynesians went back and re-examined their data
0:10:16 > 0:10:19on aborted foetuses.
0:10:19 > 0:10:24In French Polynesia, abortion is legal, and most of the women chose
0:10:24 > 0:10:27to have terminations, so that's why we failed to spot it there,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29but the spike in microcephaly was there.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Professor Rodrigues is leading a study across Recife,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38gathering data from 400 pregnant women.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42This is important because women at the moment,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44if they're pregnant and they get Zika,
0:10:44 > 0:10:50they don't know if the risk to their babies is 5% or it's 95%.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54But the results of the research will be useful for the rest of the world.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58I went with health workers to visit one of the pregnant women
0:10:58 > 0:11:01taking part in Professor Rodrigues' study.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04Adenilda!
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Adenilda had a rash early in her pregnancy -
0:11:14 > 0:11:16the tell-tale sign of Zika infection.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24They're taking blood to find out
0:11:24 > 0:11:28whether the first three months of pregnancy is, as they suspect,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31the riskiest time to catch the Zika virus.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Adenilda's scans indicate she's in the clear,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38but she'll only know for sure when the baby is born.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46What would it mean to you if there was a difficulty with the baby?
0:12:20 > 0:12:22As fear spreads in Recife,
0:12:22 > 0:12:27scientists here now believe the epidemic isn't just a one-off.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Mosquito numbers rise and fall with the seasons,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and so will the Zika virus.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38There's a big increase in the number of pregnant women with rash,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42so we think that what's happening now is the second epidemic of Zika,
0:12:42 > 0:12:47which will then be followed by a second outbreak of microcephaly
0:12:47 > 0:12:48in eight, nine months.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52So there will be a whole new spike in cases of microcephaly?
0:12:52 > 0:12:55We think there will be a whole new spike of cases, yes.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01'What does the future hold for thousands of Zika babies?
0:13:01 > 0:13:05'An early study suggests over 70% will have a severe
0:13:05 > 0:13:07'form of microcephaly.'
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Six-year-old Emanuele has microcephaly
0:13:20 > 0:13:22caused by a genetic condition, not Zika.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Emanuele's plight shows the huge burden that will be put
0:13:28 > 0:13:31on the Zika families and the state.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35His mother, Cleciana, told me her son has 20 seizures a day.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- TRANSLATION:- He grows by the day. It just gets harder and harder.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44He can't walk, he can't talk, he can't see.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47That's what his life is like.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52In 2010, the year Emanuele was born,
0:13:52 > 0:13:57there were only five babies in the Recife area with microcephaly.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00His parents say they still had to wait two years for a wheelchair
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and sue the state to get them to pay for the boy's medicines.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10- TRANSLATION:- The government can't support the five children
0:14:10 > 0:14:12born in 2010,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16and now this figure has skyrocketed to more than 1,000.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20They make promises, but in reality things are different.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25The family live three hours' drive from Recife.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Transport is difficult, so Emanuele doesn't get the regular
0:14:29 > 0:14:33physiotherapy sessions that microcephaly children need.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36- TRANSLATION:- He hasn't had physiotherapy.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40His hands are supposed to open like this. That's what happens, see?
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Always stuck.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The parents of the newborn Zika babies are at the very start
0:14:56 > 0:14:59of living with microcephaly.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04- TRANSLATION:- We have to do exercises on a daily basis
0:15:04 > 0:15:08to improve both his legs and hip.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- TRANSLATION:- I hope he's going to be a normal kid.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Maybe not for others, but for me he's going to be a normal kid.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20He's going to study and do everything a normal child does.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29- TRANSLATION:- He's going to be my comfort, my joy on sad days,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31my eternal baby.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34I'll look after him whatever the difficulties.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I will strive so he is given anything he wants.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Juliana and Jobson are unemployed.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48They can use transport provided by the state to get to hospital
0:15:48 > 0:15:50two or three times a week,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53but they haven't yet seen any sign of the money
0:15:53 > 0:15:57promised by the Brazilian President to support the Zika babies.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06- TRANSLATION:- This is a tragedy, a generation of children who will
0:16:06 > 0:16:10turn into adults, but disabled adults.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14It's going to be like the population of a whole town with microcephaly.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24So why did the Zika virus take such a hold here in Recife
0:16:24 > 0:16:26sparking the microcephaly epidemic?
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Recife is a city that was founded literally on a swamp
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and the city today spreads across a series of islands
0:16:35 > 0:16:38and there is water everywhere.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43Miles of open sewage canals flow through the city to the sea.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47It's just one gigantic mosquito breeding ground
0:16:47 > 0:16:50and three million people live here.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54There's now an urgency to inspect hundreds of thousands of water tanks
0:16:54 > 0:16:57to make sure they're properly sealed or treated.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00You can see the problem.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Even this covered water tank, they've found mosquito larvae
0:17:03 > 0:17:05in the water here.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07There's two more tanks up there, another one over there,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and it just gives you an idea of the scale of the task.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13They've been fighting the Aedes Aegyptae mosquito
0:17:13 > 0:17:15in Recife for decades.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17It carries many tropical diseases -
0:17:17 > 0:17:22yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya - some of them fatal.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25But Zika's been a game-changer.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The health authorities here have been spraying intensively
0:17:28 > 0:17:32since the Zika epidemic reached its peak in autumn last year.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35But with an area of over 200 square kilometres to cover,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38it's a mammoth task.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41We didn't have Zika virus before and it was probably
0:17:41 > 0:17:46introduced by visitors from other parts of the world,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50probably from Asia and specifically Polynesia,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53who may have brought the virus in the first place.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58Recife was virgin territory for the Zika virus -
0:17:58 > 0:18:01a large population with no natural immunity.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06And natural territory for a mosquito
0:18:06 > 0:18:09that thrives in many 21st-century cities.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15These mosquitoes have adapted tremendously
0:18:15 > 0:18:20and very efficiently to the urban environment in tropical countries,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24so this really is something that we need to be doing on a regular basis,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28in a very intense way, so we can reduce the burden of this disease.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32We're going to have this problem for a long time before we get
0:18:32 > 0:18:35either natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40But there's no vaccine yet to prevent Zika.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42So, for the moment, education programmes
0:18:42 > 0:18:46and spraying to kill off the mosquito are the only options.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52The government's declared a war against the mosquito.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56I'm out with the army inspecting homes in a poor slum, or favela.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Local health director Maria Eugenia is ramming home the message
0:19:06 > 0:19:10that everyone needs to fight the mosquito in their own backyard.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29It's the living conditions here that make people vulnerable to the
0:19:29 > 0:19:31diseases carried by the mosquito.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Brazil already has the highest incidence of dengue fever
0:19:36 > 0:19:38in the Western Hemisphere.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Last year there were a million and a half cases
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and nearly 900 people died.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48And the same mosquito that carries dengue carries the Zika virus.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Brazil has spent billions of dollars over the decades
0:19:56 > 0:19:59trying to eradicate the mosquito with little success.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04There are still septic tanks inside many houses,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07but some people blame the government for the Zika epidemic.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33It's pregnant women in poor neighbourhoods like this
0:20:33 > 0:20:37who are most vulnerable to giving birth to babies with microcephaly.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08A dozen teams around the world are racing to develop a vaccine,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11but it's years away from being widely available.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15In the meantime,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18could Zika be defeated by a new experimental weapon -
0:21:18 > 0:21:21a mosquito that's been genetically-modified?
0:21:23 > 0:21:26How many are you releasing this morning?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30This morning we are releasing 244,000 mosquitoes.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34A British company is carrying out this field trial in Piracicaba,
0:21:34 > 0:21:371,600 miles south of Recife.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39We only release males,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42so these males are going to look for females, they're going to
0:21:42 > 0:21:46mate with them, and all the offspring will die before they
0:21:46 > 0:21:51reach the breeding age, so we're going to kill the next generation.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57This is how it works - the eggs of the Aedes mosquito are injected
0:21:57 > 0:22:01with a lethal gene to create a new strain of male mosquito.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06It will pass on that gene when it mates and its offspring then die.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12'Oxitec are now producing the GM mosquitoes in Brazil.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16'This morning it's feeding time.'
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- So this is blood? - Yeah, this is lamb's blood.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23We just put one of these blood plates here...
0:22:23 > 0:22:26- They're all swarming.- ..and the females will be attracted to it.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29'In the lab, like the outside world,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32'it's only the female mosquitoes which bite.'
0:22:34 > 0:22:37I can see how aggressive the female Aedes mosquito is.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40I've been bitten several times on the backs of my hands
0:22:40 > 0:22:42since I have been in the lab and I'm covered with repellent,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44but they still seem to have got through.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49People are very worried about anything genetically-modified.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53A fear you're going to create some kind of super insect with
0:22:53 > 0:22:55devastating results down the line.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57How do you know you're not doing that here?
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Well, our mosquito is self-limiting.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03It is weaker than the mosquito in nature, so we know that in two
0:23:03 > 0:23:08to four days, it is dead once it is released, so we know that for sure.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12'Oxitec claims the trials in Piracicaba have
0:23:12 > 0:23:16'resulted in 82% of wild mosquitoes being killed off.'
0:23:20 > 0:23:25But this GM process hasn't passed all the regulatory hurdles yet,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and it will need massive scaling up to cover cities like Recife.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Meanwhile, how will the families with Zika babies cope?
0:23:37 > 0:23:39There are more than 1,000,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43spread across a state four times the size of Wales.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Baby Christian is out of hospital
0:23:46 > 0:23:50and he's back home with his parents, Edernalia and Christiano.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58- TRANSLATION:- He won't be able to walk because of his legs.
0:23:58 > 0:23:59That's what they told us.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01He may never walk.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04It makes you sad. It hurts.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09- TRANSLATION:- When I was told, I got really sad, I was upset inside.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12I was crying inside.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14It's not OK to have a child with microcephaly,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18but since he was born like this, we have to give him love and care.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Christian's grandmother, Damiana,
0:24:22 > 0:24:27is far from sure the teenage parents can cope with a disabled child.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31- TRANSLATION:- I'm really worried.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Edernalia is so young and inexperienced.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36I am worried how she'll take care of him.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40I want Christian to always be close to me because I'm more responsible.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46'Now Damiana's other daughter, Tatiana, is eight months pregnant.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48'The father's no longer around.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51'The shadow of microcephaly hangs over her, too.'
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Are you worried about your baby?
0:24:55 > 0:24:58Are you worried about your pregnancy?
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Has she talked to you about what she might do
0:25:09 > 0:25:11if the baby has microcephaly?
0:25:11 > 0:25:14- TRANSLATION:- She said, if it's like Christian, that's OK,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17but if it's more deformed, like the ones she saw back in Recife,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20she won't keep it.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Would abortion be a possibility? Have you discussed that with her?
0:25:23 > 0:25:26- TRANSLATION:- Yes, a lot. I told her that's just wrong.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30If she did that and I learnt about it, I would have gone to the police.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32They have to act more responsibly.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Babies don't choose to be born.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44There are many unplanned, unwanted pregnancies,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47especially at carnival time.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Another reason so many babies with microcephaly were born here
0:25:53 > 0:25:56is that abortion's almost always illegal in Brazil.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02But now campaigners are taking a case to the Supreme Court,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05arguing Zika and microcephaly must lead to a change in the law.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Tragedies sometimes open new doors.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17I think it would be a very good thing, in spite of the horrible
0:26:17 > 0:26:21aspects of this microcephaly, if that was the opportunity
0:26:21 > 0:26:25where Brazil finally reconsidered the issue of legal abortions.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Tourists and travellers bitten by the mosquito
0:26:29 > 0:26:33have spread Zika from Brazil across South America.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38In a few cases, Zika's been sexually transmitted.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42It's also suspected to have caused paralysis in some adults.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49The Zika virus that first took hold here in Recife has now spread
0:26:49 > 0:26:52to more than two dozen countries in the Americas,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54and even to Europe.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58It's become a global medical emergency - a growing pandemic.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05There's been one case of microcephaly in the US -
0:27:05 > 0:27:09a baby born to a woman who'd visited Latin America.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Three pregnant tourists who returned to Spain are also being monitored.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20- TRANSLATION:- I am worried about further developments for Zika
0:27:20 > 0:27:23around the globe.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27The virus is not going to affect one region only. It is going to spread.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36That spread will most likely be across hotter countries.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39But it's unlikely the mosquito which carries Zika
0:27:39 > 0:27:42could survive in the colder conditions across much of Europe.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47In Recife, where it all began, they're warning the tragedy
0:27:47 > 0:27:52of the Zika babies is far from over, and not just in Brazil.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57I think the world has to prepare to live with Zika for a few years
0:27:57 > 0:28:01while we get the development
0:28:01 > 0:28:03of the tools we need to prevent it.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06And that means more babies with microcephaly?
0:28:06 > 0:28:09It certainly means more babies with microcephaly.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13- TRANSLATION:- I'd give my life for my grandchildren.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15I've got to take care of them.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Let's see what God has in store.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20The new baby may be deformed, but I won't abandon him.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Since I left Recife three weeks ago,
0:28:25 > 0:28:2988 more babies have been born in this state with microcephaly.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34More Enzos, more Christians,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36more families living with the devastating consequences
0:28:36 > 0:28:39of the Zika virus.