BRASILIA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has seen more than 3,000 birth defects caused by the Zika virus in the past two years since an outbreak was registered in 2015, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry confirmed 3,037 cases of malformations and disrupted development in infected newborns and children between Nov. 2015 and Dec. 2017.

The mosquito-borne virus was shown to cause defects in infants whose mothers were bitten when pregnant, including microcephaly, which leads to abnormally small brains and heads.

In adults, the virus can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder that leads to muscle weakness and eventually paralysis.

However, many women bitten by the mosquito and infected rarely displayed visible symptoms.

Zika-caused birth defects were first reported in 2015, mostly in Brazil's poorer northeast region. The epidemic led the World Health Organization to issue an alert in late November 2015.