Archive for the ‘Zika virus’ Category
Men who have traveled to or reside in areas with active Zika virus transmission and their female or male sex partners: What to do?
Monday, March 28th, 2016Update: Interim Guidance for Prevention of Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus — United States, 2016
Alexandra M. Oster, MD; Kate Russell, MD; Jo Ellen Stryker, PhD; et al.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65(Early Release)
CDC issued interim guidance for the prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus on February 5, 2016. The following recommendations apply to men who have traveled to or reside in areas with active Zika virus transmission and their female or male sex partners. These recommendations replace the previously issued recommendations and are updated to include time intervals after travel to areas with active Zika virus transmission or after Zika virus infection for taking precautions to reduce the risk for sexual transmission
“… if A aegypti is the only competent Zika virus vector, then risk is geographically restricted; in North America to Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Second, if A albopictus is a competent vector, then there is risk of autochthonous transmission cycles in Canada, Chile, much of western Europe, as well as south and east Asia. Third, for all these areas, the risk compounds that from flights originating in other areas historically endemic for Zika virus….”
Saturday, March 26th, 2016Global risk of Zika virus depends critically on vector status of Aedes albopictus
Published online: March 17, 2016
Lauren M Gardner, Nan Chen, Sahotra Sarkar
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(16)00176-6/abstract
WHO’s Zika situation report of 3/24/16
Friday, March 25th, 2016Zika situation report
24 March 2016
Zika virus, Microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome
Summary
- From 1 January 2007 to 23 March 2016, Zika virus transmission was documented in a total of 61 countries and territories. Four of these countries and territories reported a Zika virus outbreak that is now over. Argentina and New Zealand are the latest countries to report sexual transmission of Zika virus. Thus, five countries have now reported locally acquired infection in the absence of any known mosquito vectors, probably through sexual transmission (Argentina, France, Italy, New Zealand and the United States of America).
- The geographical distribution of Zika virus has steadily widened since the virus was first detected in the Americas in 2014. Autochthonous Zika virus transmission has been reported in 34 countries and territories of this region.
- So far an increase in microcephaly and other fetal malformations has been reported in Brazil and French Polynesia. Two additional cases, linked to a stay in Brazil, were detected in the United States of America and Slovenia. Panama recently reported a newborn with microcephaly and occipital encephalocoele (neural tube defect) who died a few hours after birth and tested positive for Zika virus by RT-PCR.
- In the context of Zika virus circulation, 12 countries or territories have reported an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and/or laboratory confirmation of a Zika virus infection among GBS cases.
- The mounting evidence from observational, cohort and case-control studies indicates that Zika virus is highly likely to be a cause of microcephaly, GBS and other neurological disorders. Among the tasks ahead are to further quantify the risk of neurological disorders following Zika virus infection, and to investigate the biological mechanisms that lead to neurological disorders.
- The global prevention and control strategy launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Strategic Response Framework encompasses surveillance, response activities and research, and this situation report is organized under those headings.
Cuban officials announced Tuesday night that they have detected the first case of the Zika virus transmitted inside the country
Wednesday, March 16th, 2016
** a 21-year-old Havana woman who had not traveled outside Cuba was diagnosed with the virus after suffering headaches, fatigue and other symptoms.
** Cuba has thrown more than 9,000 soldiers, police and university students into an effort to fumigate for mosquitoes, wipe out the standing water where they breed and prevent a Zika epidemic.
Risk communication and community engagement for Zika virus prevention and control
Wednesday, March 16th, 2016Brazilian doctors on the frontline of the Zika outbreak are concerned about how many mothers of babies with microcephaly are being abandoned.
Sunday, March 13th, 2016
** “…..With the health service already under strain, abortion prohibited, and the virus hitting the poorest hardest, an absent father is yet another burden on mothers already struggling to cope with raising a child that might never walk or talk. ….”
Zika is just one of a growing number of continent-jumping diseases carried by mosquitoes and threatening swathes of humanity.
Sunday, March 13th, 2016
Report of the isolation of ZIKV in cell culture from the saliva of a patient who developed a febrile illness after returning from the Dominican Republic to Italy, in January 2016. The patient had prolonged shedding of viral RNA in saliva and urine, at higher load than in blood, for up to 29 days after symptom onset.
Friday, March 11th, 2016Barzon L, Pacenti M, Berto A, Sinigaglia A, Franchin E, Lavezzo E, Brugnaro P, Palù G. Isolation of infectious Zika virus from saliva and prolonged viral RNA shedding in a traveller returning from the Dominican Republic to Italy, January 2016. Euro Surveill. 2016;21(10):pii=30159. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.10.30159
** This finding poses questions on the potential risk of human-to-human transmission of the virus through saliva.
** While isolation of ZIKV in cell culture from urine, semen, and breast milk has been described, isolation of ZIKV from saliva has not been reported so far.
