5 years later, researchers assess how children exposed to Zika are developing
When Yariel turned five in November, he had a pandemic birthday party, like most school-aged kids these days. It was a karaoke party at home with family and one neighbor, and a cake decorated with Roblox action figures.
"It was a Dominican cake," his mom Yaritza Martinez explains — a layer cake covered in meringue icing. She also put up balloons and silver streamers and a big Roblox banner.
But unlike a lot of American kids, this isn't Yariel's first pandemic. When Martinez was pregnant with him in 2016, she traveled to her home country of the Dominican Republic for a few weeks — and then came home to the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
"As soon I came here, the next day, I went to the hospital," she says, describing how tired she felt. "After two days, I [got] the test for Zika."
The test was positive.
She was referred to the at Children's National Hospital, a regional hub for Zika treatment, and enrolled in a study. Researchers monitored her baby's brain as it developed, using MRIs of her pregnant belly.
