Colombia reports 42,706 cases, including 7,653 in pregnant women, 3 deaths, one probable case of microcephaly

[Pathfinder]

Life | Sat Feb 13, 2016 9:38am EST Related: HEALTH

More than 5,000 pregnant women in Colombia have Zika virus: government

BOGOTA

REUTERS/JOHN VIZCAINO

More than 5,000 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the country's national health institute said on Saturday, as the disease continues its rapid spread across the Americas.

Cases of the virus total 31,555, the institute said in a epidemiology bulletin, among them 5,013 pregnant women.
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There are so far no recorded cases of Zika-linked microcephaly in Colombia, the government has said. Officials are still examining figures from countries such as Brazil, but say Colombia can expect between 500 and 600 cases this year.
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The institute said 29.4 percent of pregnant women with Zika live in Norte de Santander province, along the eastern border with Venezuela.

Colombia's Caribbean region, which includes popular tourist destinations Cartagena and Santa Marta, had more than 12,488 cases of the virus, the bulletin showed.

Total reported Zika cases increased by 23 percent over last week's figures, while the number of pregnant women with the virus was up 57.8 percent.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-colombia-idUSKCN0VM0JS

 

[Pathfinder]

Life | Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:16pm EST Related: HEALTH

Colombia's forecast on Zika-linked birth defect may be too high: minister

BOGOTA | BY JULIA SYMMES COBB AND LUIS JAIME ACOSTA

In an interview, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria suggested the Andean nation may revise downward its projection of 500 to 600 cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, as the condition, marked by an abnormally small head, has not yet shown up in fetal ultrasounds.
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"We're doubting that figure. We're analyzing what's happening in Brazil, but between when we released the estimate and now we haven't found a single case of microcephaly," Gaviria said. "The extrapolation of Brazil's figures to Colombia, which is how we got the projection, now doesn't seem reasonable."
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"Colombia is going to tell us a lot if this link between Zika and microcephaly is really associated. At the moment it is only in Brazil," Dr. Marcos Espinal, director of the department of communicable disease at the Pan American Health Organization, the regional arm of the World Health Organization, said at an event on Wednesday.

"If Zika is really the cause of microcephaly, we should expect to see microcephaly cases in Colombia in June," Espinal said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-colombia-idUSKCN0VQ2AB

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Colombia reports 37,000 Zika cases, over 6,300 in pregnant women

February 20, 2016

Colombia has now registered more than 37,000 cases of people infected with Zika, including more than 6,300 pregnant women, the country's National Institute of Health reported Saturday.

The latest count, based on data reported as of February 13, reflects an increase of 5,456 cases of the mosquito-borne virus in the last week for which data is available.