Birth defects linked to Zika virus

In the early weeks of Angelica Pereira's pregnancy, a mosquito bite began bothering her. At first it seemed a small thing. But the next day she awoke with a rash, a headache, a fever and a burning in her eyes. The symptoms disappeared within four days, but she fears the virus has left lasting consequences.

Pereira's daughter Luiza was born in October with a head more than 3 centimeters below the range defined as healthy by doctors, a rare condition known as microcephaly that often results in mental retardation. A neurologist soon gave Pereira and her husband more bad news: The brain damage had caused cerebral palsy.

"My heart stopped. All I kept thinking about was all the struggles and discrimination my baby will suffer," said Pereira, a 20-year-old seamstress who lives in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, a small, garment-manufacturing city in northeast Brazil.