News

CDC: Zika infection unlikely in asymptomatic people, but test pregnant women


 

FROM MMWR

References

Although the likelihood of Zika virus infection is low among asymptomatic patients, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends offering Zika virus testing to asymptomatic pregnant women with potential exposure.

The recommendation is based on Zika virus testing performed in U.S. states and the District of Columbia from Jan. 3 to March 5, 2016. The analysis included specimens that were received for testing at the CDC Arboviral Diseases Branch and confirmed Zika virus infection was defined as detection of Zika virus RNA by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, or anti-Zika immunoglobulin M antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with neutralizing antibody titers against Zika virus, at levels greater than or equal to fourfold higher than those against dengue virus.

©Felipe Caparrós Cruz/Thinkstock

A total of 4,534 patients were tested: 3,335 (74%) were pregnant women. Among 1,541 patients with one or more Zika virus–associated symptoms, 182 (12%) had confirmed Zika virus infection. Only seven (0.3%) of 2,425 asymptomatic pregnant women who were tested had confirmed Zika virus infection. Of those patients, five resided in areas with active Zika virus transmission at some time during their pregnancy and two were short-term travelers, according to Dr. Sarah Reagan-Steiner of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and her coauthors.

“It is reassuring that the proportion of asymptomatic pregnant women with confirmed Zika virus infection in this report was low” and not unexpected in the current U.S. setting, where most exposure to the Zika virus is travel-associated, the investigators wrote.

No conflicts of interested were reported by the authors. Read the full report in MMWR (Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016 Apr 15. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6515e1).

rpizzi@frontlinemedcom.com

On Twitter @richpizzi

Recommended Reading

New Zika case study fills some research gaps
MDedge Infectious Disease
CDC urges states to prepare for Zika
MDedge Infectious Disease
Medical groups urge emergency funding to combat Zika
MDedge Infectious Disease
HHS calls on Congress to approve supplemental Zika funding
MDedge Infectious Disease
Intracranial calcification, hypomyelination seen with Zika virus congenital microcephaly
MDedge Infectious Disease
Colombia reports first Zika deaths, all in medically compromised patients
MDedge Infectious Disease
Zika caused rash, pruritus more than high fever
MDedge Infectious Disease
Severe sepsis and septic shock syndrome linked to chikungunya
MDedge Infectious Disease
CDC confirms Zika virus as a cause of microcephaly
MDedge Infectious Disease
Rapid diagnostic tests used to detect Ebola
MDedge Infectious Disease