Colombia's forecast on Zika-linked birth defect may be too high: minister

By Julia Symmes Cobb and Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia, seen as a key test case for the impacts of a Zika outbreak, is reconsidering its own forecast of babies likely to be born with a rare birth defect linked to the mosquito-borne virus, indicating that it may be too high. In an interview, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria suggested the Andean nation may revise downward its projection of 500 to 600 cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, as the condition, marked by an abnormally small head, has not yet shown up in fetal ultrasounds. "The extrapolation of Brazil's figures to Colombia, which is how we got the projection, now doesn't seem reasonable." Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly.