Discovery of Slovenian scientists echoes around the world

Slovenia adds another story of success to its rich collection of innovations, discoveries and achievements. The prestigious medical journal, the New England Journal of Medicine, published the contribution of research from the Faculty of Medicine (University of Ljubljana) and the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, making a remarkable discovery about the Zika virus and its effects on the foetus during pregnancy. The group of Slovenian scientists was the first in the world to prove an important correlation, which several renowned institutes had been striving to achieve for several months.

Read the entire article and research here.

The research conducted by the Medical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana and the UKC Ljubljana University Medical Centre was based on the case of a previously healthy European female who became pregnant while living and working in Brazil.

“Microscopic examination revealed that brain cells were destroyed due to infection with the virus. While it cannot be definitive proof, it may present the most compelling evidence to date that congenital brain malformations associated with the Zika virus infection in pregnancy are a consequence of viral replication in the foetal brain,” said Tatjana Avšič Županc of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, the head of the research team.

Up to now scientists have only suspected the spreading of the Zika virus from an infected mother to the brain of an unborn baby, leading to permanent brain damage and microcephaly. Now it has been proven.

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