Scientists have announced they believe they understand how the Zika virus causes a rare birth defect in which babies are born without abnormally large heads and underdeveloped brains. Working with lab-grown human stem cells, scientists found that the virus selectively infected cells forming the brain’s cortex, the thin outer layer of folded gray matter. Its attack made those cells more likely to die and less likely to divide normally and make new brain cells.

Since the outbreak that has swept through the Americas first emerged, scientists in Brazil have raised concerns over a possible link between Zika and the birth abnormality, known as microcephaly. The experts at Johns Hopkins, Florida State and Emory universities believe that while the breakthrough does not prove a definitive link between Zika and microcephaly, it does shed more light on how the virus attacks the body.

Though the Zika virus was discovered in 1947, there is very little known about how it works and its potential health implications, especially among pregnant women. According to the World Health Organisation, 48 countries have reported local transmission of the Zika virus.

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