Tweet
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-persp...ephaly-answers
Colombia calls Zika epidemic over as Brazil seeks microcephaly answers
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Jul 26, 2016
After piling up nearly 100,000 Zika cases as the second-worst-hit country, Colombia's health ministry yesterday announced the end of the epidemic and the beginning of an endemic period, as researchers intensify their search for why northeastern Brazil's microcephaly numbers are so much higher than the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, as Florida officials continued their investigation into two possible locally acquired Zika cases, they added 11 more travel-linked infections, including more illnesses in pregnant women, over the past 2 days.
Colombia's Zika activity ebbs
Colombia's outbreak began last September, and since then, 99,721 cases have been reported, 8,826 of them confirmed by lab tests, the country's Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced yesterday in a press release. It is monitoring 17,730 pregnant women who were sickened by Zika virus.
Fernando Ruiz Gomez, MD, deputy health minister, said in the statement that, based on the earlier peak of disease activity, he expects to see an increase in microcephaly births in September and October. So far Colombia has reported 21 microcephaly births, according to the most recent update from the World Health Organization.
He said the rate of cases has dropped to about 600 per week, and that the disease will likely remain endemic, posing an ongoing risk to pregnant women and the potential for future widespread outbreaks. According to the media report, however the end-of-the-epidemic declaration ends the ministry advice that women postpone pregnancy as one of the steps to curb the impact of the virus.
In a Stat story today, Matthew Aliota, PhD, a University of Wisconsin researcher who was part of a team that first detected Zika in Colombia, said the virus could be in an "inter-epidemic period" and that cases could resurge.
"This isn't totally unexpected with Zika virus," he said, adding that a major question is whether the virus will persist in Latin America by surviving in wild monkeys.
In the second-most-affected country, where Zika activity started after Brazil's, experts are eager to see if microcephaly patterns similar to Brazil's emerge. However, so far it's been difficult to compare the two countries, because Colombia reportedly only counts live microcephaly births and not birth defects found on ultrasounds in pregnancy loss situations.
Also, it's not clear if warnings about microcephaly in Brazil last October may have led women to take precautions that might lead to fewer Zika-affected pregnancies.
Brazil's microcephaly mystery
Though much of Brazil has reported Zika virus infections, an unusual clustering of microcephaly cases has been reported in the northeastern part of the country, which has now prompted studies from the health ministry and collaborators in other countries to tease out the possible involvement of other factors, Nature News reported yesterday.
Nearly 90% of Brazil's 1,709 Zika-linked microcephaly cases are reported from a relatively small area of the country's northeastern tip. Experts told the journal that possible contributors could include environmental, socioeconomic, or biological factors.
Fatima Marinho, PhD, the health ministry's health information director, told Nature that data problems from other parts of Brazil might be playing a role, but over the past several months, scientists have been discussing the unusual clustering at their meetings.
To get to the bottom of the issue, the health ministry has asked research teams in London and Seattle to help, according to Nature. Other theories include possible interactions with chikungunya or dengue virus; low vaccination rates against yellow fever, which is another flavivirus; and even a possible role for bovine viral diarrhea virus, based on traces found in brains of a few affected fetuses.
Researchers hope to expand their study by incorporating data from other research programs in Puerto Rico, Colombia, and other affected areas.
Florida: 49 pregnant women infected
In an update yesterday, the Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) said over the weekend, officials worked with Marc Fischer, MD, MPH, a medical epidemiologist from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a survey model for expanding the investigation.
It added that officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties?where the suspected cases were reported?are reviewing the methodology and that training is under way. Florida Health continues to urge residents and visitors to help with requests for urine samples in the investigation area, a step that helps determine the number of people affected.
Over the past 2 days it reported 11 more travel-linked cases and 2 involving pregnant women. As of today, Florida Health reports 315 travel-related Zika cases and 49 infections in pregnant women. Of Florida's total, Broward and Miami-Dade counties account for about half of the cases.
See also:
Jul 25 Colombian health ministry statement
Jul 25 Stat story
Jul 25 Nature Newsreport
Jul 25 Florida Health Zika update
Jul 26 Florida Health Zika update
Colombia calls Zika epidemic over as Brazil seeks microcephaly answers
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Jul 26, 2016
After piling up nearly 100,000 Zika cases as the second-worst-hit country, Colombia's health ministry yesterday announced the end of the epidemic and the beginning of an endemic period, as researchers intensify their search for why northeastern Brazil's microcephaly numbers are so much higher than the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, as Florida officials continued their investigation into two possible locally acquired Zika cases, they added 11 more travel-linked infections, including more illnesses in pregnant women, over the past 2 days.
Colombia's Zika activity ebbs
Colombia's outbreak began last September, and since then, 99,721 cases have been reported, 8,826 of them confirmed by lab tests, the country's Ministry of Health and Social Protection announced yesterday in a press release. It is monitoring 17,730 pregnant women who were sickened by Zika virus.
Fernando Ruiz Gomez, MD, deputy health minister, said in the statement that, based on the earlier peak of disease activity, he expects to see an increase in microcephaly births in September and October. So far Colombia has reported 21 microcephaly births, according to the most recent update from the World Health Organization.
He said the rate of cases has dropped to about 600 per week, and that the disease will likely remain endemic, posing an ongoing risk to pregnant women and the potential for future widespread outbreaks. According to the media report, however the end-of-the-epidemic declaration ends the ministry advice that women postpone pregnancy as one of the steps to curb the impact of the virus.
In a Stat story today, Matthew Aliota, PhD, a University of Wisconsin researcher who was part of a team that first detected Zika in Colombia, said the virus could be in an "inter-epidemic period" and that cases could resurge.
"This isn't totally unexpected with Zika virus," he said, adding that a major question is whether the virus will persist in Latin America by surviving in wild monkeys.
In the second-most-affected country, where Zika activity started after Brazil's, experts are eager to see if microcephaly patterns similar to Brazil's emerge. However, so far it's been difficult to compare the two countries, because Colombia reportedly only counts live microcephaly births and not birth defects found on ultrasounds in pregnancy loss situations.
Also, it's not clear if warnings about microcephaly in Brazil last October may have led women to take precautions that might lead to fewer Zika-affected pregnancies.
Brazil's microcephaly mystery
Though much of Brazil has reported Zika virus infections, an unusual clustering of microcephaly cases has been reported in the northeastern part of the country, which has now prompted studies from the health ministry and collaborators in other countries to tease out the possible involvement of other factors, Nature News reported yesterday.
Nearly 90% of Brazil's 1,709 Zika-linked microcephaly cases are reported from a relatively small area of the country's northeastern tip. Experts told the journal that possible contributors could include environmental, socioeconomic, or biological factors.
Fatima Marinho, PhD, the health ministry's health information director, told Nature that data problems from other parts of Brazil might be playing a role, but over the past several months, scientists have been discussing the unusual clustering at their meetings.
To get to the bottom of the issue, the health ministry has asked research teams in London and Seattle to help, according to Nature. Other theories include possible interactions with chikungunya or dengue virus; low vaccination rates against yellow fever, which is another flavivirus; and even a possible role for bovine viral diarrhea virus, based on traces found in brains of a few affected fetuses.
Researchers hope to expand their study by incorporating data from other research programs in Puerto Rico, Colombia, and other affected areas.
Florida: 49 pregnant women infected
In an update yesterday, the Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) said over the weekend, officials worked with Marc Fischer, MD, MPH, a medical epidemiologist from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a survey model for expanding the investigation.
It added that officials in Miami-Dade and Broward counties?where the suspected cases were reported?are reviewing the methodology and that training is under way. Florida Health continues to urge residents and visitors to help with requests for urine samples in the investigation area, a step that helps determine the number of people affected.
Over the past 2 days it reported 11 more travel-linked cases and 2 involving pregnant women. As of today, Florida Health reports 315 travel-related Zika cases and 49 infections in pregnant women. Of Florida's total, Broward and Miami-Dade counties account for about half of the cases.
See also:
Jul 25 Colombian health ministry statement
Jul 25 Stat story
Jul 25 Nature Newsreport
Jul 25 Florida Health Zika update
Jul 26 Florida Health Zika update