There have been reports of congenital microcephaly in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant. Zika virus infections have been confirmed in several infants with microcephaly; it is not known how many of the microcephaly cases are associated with Zika virus infection.
Microcephaly can be diagnosed during pregnancy with ultrasound. Microcephaly is most easily diagnosed by ultrasound late in the 2nd trimester or early in the third trimester of pregnancy.
Microcephaly might be detected as early as 18-20 weeks of gestation however, detection by prenatal ultrasound can be challenging at this gestational age due to fetal position and fetal motion artifact.
The optimal time to perform ultrasound screening for fetal microcephaly is not known. In the absence of microcephaly, the presence of intracranial calcifications before 22 weeks gestation might suggest a risk for the future development of microcephaly.
More info: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/hc-providers/qa-pregnant-women.html
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