Birth Defects

Babies' spines corrected while still in the womb in rare and promising surgery

Children that underwent the pre-birth surgery had better brain and motor function long-term.

Zika virus evades immune system, directly infects brain cells: new study

The mosquito-borne Zika virus avoids immune system detection and directly infects the brain cells destined to become neurons, a new study has found.

Google is working with UNICEF to map the spread of Zika

Google said on Thursday that its engineers were working with U.N. child agency UNICEF to analyze data in an effort to map and anticipate the spread of the Zika virus, linked to birth defects among children in Brazil.

Zika chronicles: Doctors puzzle over severity of defects in some Brazilian babies

Experts on microcephaly, the birth defect that has sparked alarm in the current Zika virus outbreak, say they are struck by the severity of a small number of cases they have reviewed from Brazil.

China launches first gene chip database of birth defects

China's first gene chip database of birth defects will be launched this year in north China's Shanxi Province which has the highest birth defect rate of 1.9 per cent

Children through IVF more prone to birth defects

In-vitro fertilisation, which came as a boon to infertile couples, is not without its flip side, particularly birth defects, says new research.