Tweet
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-persp...-south-florida
CDC highlights high-risk Zika areas in South Florida
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Oct 20, 2016 Fine-tuning its travel recommendations for pregnant women living in or traveling to Miami-Dade County, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday designated color-coded risk areas to signify the intensity of Zika transmission.
In other developments, Florida reported one more local Zika case and the CDC reported more Zika infections in pregnant women, travelers, and US territory residents?and, for the first time, it profiled disease activity in American Samoa.
Meanwhile, research teams reported new findings about the virus, including how it damages maternal and fetal tissues during the early stages of pregnancy, how infection modifies viral and human RNA, and patterns seen in male-to-female sexual spread.
Red, yellow shaded areas
The CDC said in its updated guidance that the risk of infection is significantly higher?because of more intense transmission?in a red shaded area that corresponds to two already noted active transmission areas, a 4.5-square-mile part of Miami Beach and a 1-square-mile of the Little River area of Miami-Dade County.
The rest of Miami-Dade County is shaded in yellow, marking a local transmission area where transmission intensity hasn't been clarified. "Additionally, areas adjacent or close to red areas may have a greater likelihood of local Zika virus transmission and are considered to pose a risk to pregnant women," the CDC said.
The CDC stratified its guidance updates for pregnant women based on the two risk areas. It urges pregnant women to consider postponing travel to all of Miami-Dade County and to avoid all travel to the two active transmission areas shaded in red. It also detailed testing and pregnancy planning guidance under each risk area.
Yesterday's recommendations were the CDC's third modification since it issued its initial guidance for South Florida on Aug 1. It also detailed its latest recommendations in a Health Alert Network (HAN) notice to health providers.
New Florida cases
The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) reported one more locally acquired Zika case today, in a Palm Beach County resident who had recently traveled to Miami, according to its daily update. Health officials are investigating where the patient was exposed to the virus.
Florida's new local Zika case total is 166, and the state has also recorded 19 locally acquired cases in out-of-state residents infected in Miami-Dade County.
Florida Health also reported three more travel-linked cases, two in Miami-Dade County and one involving a pregnant woman. The state's number of imported Zika cases is at 747, and public health workers are now monitoring 111 infected pregnant women.
Almost 900 US pregnant women infected
It its weekly Zika case update today the CDC said infections have been reported in 21 more pregnant women in the continental United States, putting the total at 899. The US territories reported 121 more illnesses in pregnant women, boosting its total to 1,927, most of them from Puerto Rico.
The number of Zika-affected pregnancies in the states remained at 25 live births and 5 pregnancy losses, and the CDC has not yet posted the latest totals from the territories.
For Zika-infected travelers, 71 more cases were reported from US states, bringing the total to 3,878. The CDC subtracted 1 sexual transmission case from its total, putting that number at 32, and added 1 more Zika-related Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) case, making 14 so far.
US territories reported 1,443 more local infections, boosting the total to 27,314 illnesses so far, about 99% in hard-hit Puerto Rico. The number of GBS complications held steady at 40.
American Samoa outbreak
A team from the CDC and its partners in American Samoa and Hawaii today provided a snapshot of how that territory's outbreak unfolded in a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
In December 2015 and January 2016 the American Samoan Department of Health noted an increase in acute febrile rash illnesses, about the same time New Zealand reported a lab-confirmed Zika case in a returning traveler who had visited the territory. On Feb 1 the CDC sent staff to help with testing and surveillance.
Early on, local health officials weren't able to test for Zika virus, but they began mosquito-borne disease control measures and tracked the disease using syndromic surveillance. Between January and July they reported 756 suspected cases, with Ituau County as an outbreak hotspot.
Of 186 specimens shipped and tested to labs at the CDC and the Hawaii Department of Health, 51 had evidence of current or past Zika infection. Of 98 pregnant women tested, 19 had evidence of infection, including 1 woman who was asymptomatic.
The number of suspected and confirmed cases was at its highest in January and February, and the territory's pregnancy registry is monitoring 674 women, including the 98 who were tested.
The authors said the report highlights response challenges, the role for surveillance through electronic health records, and the key role of collaboration among different public health agencies.
Studies detail cell tropism, RNA changes, sexual spread
See also:
Oct 19 CDC Zika guidance update for South Florida
Oct 19 CDC HAN notice
Oct 20 Florida Health daily Zika update
Oct 19 CDC Zika updates
Oct 19 MMWR report
CDC highlights high-risk Zika areas in South Florida
Filed Under:
Zika
Lisa Schnirring | News Editor | CIDRAP News
| Oct 20, 2016 Fine-tuning its travel recommendations for pregnant women living in or traveling to Miami-Dade County, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday designated color-coded risk areas to signify the intensity of Zika transmission.
In other developments, Florida reported one more local Zika case and the CDC reported more Zika infections in pregnant women, travelers, and US territory residents?and, for the first time, it profiled disease activity in American Samoa.
Meanwhile, research teams reported new findings about the virus, including how it damages maternal and fetal tissues during the early stages of pregnancy, how infection modifies viral and human RNA, and patterns seen in male-to-female sexual spread.
Red, yellow shaded areas
The CDC said in its updated guidance that the risk of infection is significantly higher?because of more intense transmission?in a red shaded area that corresponds to two already noted active transmission areas, a 4.5-square-mile part of Miami Beach and a 1-square-mile of the Little River area of Miami-Dade County.
The rest of Miami-Dade County is shaded in yellow, marking a local transmission area where transmission intensity hasn't been clarified. "Additionally, areas adjacent or close to red areas may have a greater likelihood of local Zika virus transmission and are considered to pose a risk to pregnant women," the CDC said.
The CDC stratified its guidance updates for pregnant women based on the two risk areas. It urges pregnant women to consider postponing travel to all of Miami-Dade County and to avoid all travel to the two active transmission areas shaded in red. It also detailed testing and pregnancy planning guidance under each risk area.
Yesterday's recommendations were the CDC's third modification since it issued its initial guidance for South Florida on Aug 1. It also detailed its latest recommendations in a Health Alert Network (HAN) notice to health providers.
New Florida cases
The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) reported one more locally acquired Zika case today, in a Palm Beach County resident who had recently traveled to Miami, according to its daily update. Health officials are investigating where the patient was exposed to the virus.
Florida's new local Zika case total is 166, and the state has also recorded 19 locally acquired cases in out-of-state residents infected in Miami-Dade County.
Florida Health also reported three more travel-linked cases, two in Miami-Dade County and one involving a pregnant woman. The state's number of imported Zika cases is at 747, and public health workers are now monitoring 111 infected pregnant women.
Almost 900 US pregnant women infected
It its weekly Zika case update today the CDC said infections have been reported in 21 more pregnant women in the continental United States, putting the total at 899. The US territories reported 121 more illnesses in pregnant women, boosting its total to 1,927, most of them from Puerto Rico.
The number of Zika-affected pregnancies in the states remained at 25 live births and 5 pregnancy losses, and the CDC has not yet posted the latest totals from the territories.
For Zika-infected travelers, 71 more cases were reported from US states, bringing the total to 3,878. The CDC subtracted 1 sexual transmission case from its total, putting that number at 32, and added 1 more Zika-related Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) case, making 14 so far.
US territories reported 1,443 more local infections, boosting the total to 27,314 illnesses so far, about 99% in hard-hit Puerto Rico. The number of GBS complications held steady at 40.
American Samoa outbreak
A team from the CDC and its partners in American Samoa and Hawaii today provided a snapshot of how that territory's outbreak unfolded in a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
In December 2015 and January 2016 the American Samoan Department of Health noted an increase in acute febrile rash illnesses, about the same time New Zealand reported a lab-confirmed Zika case in a returning traveler who had visited the territory. On Feb 1 the CDC sent staff to help with testing and surveillance.
Early on, local health officials weren't able to test for Zika virus, but they began mosquito-borne disease control measures and tracked the disease using syndromic surveillance. Between January and July they reported 756 suspected cases, with Ituau County as an outbreak hotspot.
Of 186 specimens shipped and tested to labs at the CDC and the Hawaii Department of Health, 51 had evidence of current or past Zika infection. Of 98 pregnant women tested, 19 had evidence of infection, including 1 woman who was asymptomatic.
The number of suspected and confirmed cases was at its highest in January and February, and the territory's pregnancy registry is monitoring 674 women, including the 98 who were tested.
The authors said the report highlights response challenges, the role for surveillance through electronic health records, and the key role of collaboration among different public health agencies.
Studies detail cell tropism, RNA changes, sexual spread
- French researchers who conducted experiments on human tissue samples from the first pregnancy trimester found that Zika virus has the capacity to infect and damage the tissue structure of the maternal decidua basalis, the fetal placenta, and the umbilical cord. Reporting their findings yesterday in Scientific Reports, they said Zika replicates differentially in a wide range of maternal and fetal cells, causing tissue injury during early pregnancy that might explain irreversible congenital damages.
- Zika virus infection can modify viral RNA by tagging it with a methyl group called N6-methyladeonsine (m6A) as part of the immune response, and the same Zika-influenced m6A can modify human RNA, reports a group from University of California, San Diego, and the University of Chicago today in Cell Host and Microbe. In earlier work, the researchers found that m6A played a similar role in HIV infection. The team said the findings are important for vaccine and drug development, because some approaches might not work if they don't take methylation into account.
- CDC investigators and their partners from several states yesterday reported patterns seen in nine cases of male-to-female Zika sexual transmission that occurred from January through April. Describing the case reports yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases, they wrote that none of the men involved reported genitourinary symptoms, including hematospermia. They added that the women had symptoms similar to mosquito-borne Zika infections.
See also:
Oct 19 CDC Zika guidance update for South Florida
Oct 19 CDC HAN notice
Oct 20 Florida Health daily Zika update
Oct 19 CDC Zika updates
Oct 19 MMWR report