Zika Virus News

• IM 2018Disaster Medicine in Eye of Storm at IM Meeting Lessons learned after deadly hurricanes will be shared at the upcoming Internal Medicine (IM) Meeting, along with updates on hypertension, medical marijuana, and wearables.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018
• Zika Infection Risk From Semen Low, Short-lived, Study Finds Most men infected with Zika virus had viral RNA in their semen for several weeks, but only 4% had potentially sexually transmissible virus; the high-risk period was the 30 days after symptom onset.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018
• Zika Vaccine Strategy Could Eliminate Prenatal Infections A moderately to highly effective Zika-virus vaccine administered to 90% of women of reproductive age could virtually eliminate prenatal infections, researchers say.
  Reuters Health Information, April 2018
• Neurogenic Bladder a Consequence of Congenital Zika Syndrome Microcephaly Neurogenic bladder is among the central nervous system complications of congenital Zika syndrome microcephaly, researchers in Brazil say.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2018
• Zika-related Birth Defect Rate Pegged at 7 Pct A pregnant woman who becomes ill from the Zika virus faces a 7% chance that her child will be born with birth defects, and that risk jumps to nearly 13% if she becomes ill during the first trimester, a new study conducted in French territories in the Americas has concluded.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2018
• WHO Adds 'Disease X' to List of Potential Pandemic Killers A serious worldwide threat could erupt from an as-yet-unknown pathogen, the WHO warns. Prioritizing 'X' on the annual blueprint is meant to encourage more crosscutting research and development.
  Medscape Medical News, March 2018
• New Assay Accurately Distinguishes Zika Virus Infection A new peptide array and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) accurately detects Zika virus infection and distinguishes it from other viral infections.
  Reuters Health Information, March 2018
• Takeda's Zika Vaccine Gets U.S. FDA's 'Fast Track' Status Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had granted 'fast track' status to its vaccine for the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which erupted as a major public hazard in Brazil three years ago.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2018
• Birth Defects Increased in Areas With Local Zika Transmission Zika-associated birth defects increased in 2016 in areas in the United States with local transmission, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2018
• Mosquito-packed Drones Could Give Extra Bite to Zika Fight
  Reuters Health Information, January 2018
• Microcephaly Prevalent in Brazil Before Zika Virus Epidemic In at least two Brazilian cities, microcephaly appears to have been endemic before the start of the Zika virus epidemic, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2018
• Children With Congenital Zika Need Long-term Follow-up Care Children with congenital Zika virus infection and microcephaly need long-term multidisciplinary follow-up care to avoid falling far behind on their developmental milestones, a study found.
  Medscape Medical News, December 2017
• U.S. Study Sheds Light on How Zika Causes Nerve Disorder A new study sheds light on how the mosquito-borne Zika virus causes a rare neurological condition, and the findings could have implications for companies working on Zika vaccines, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2017
• FDA Panel Recommends Zika Testing of Donated Blood Be Relaxed Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended that the requirements for screening blood donations for the Zika virus be relaxed due to diminished risk of transfusion-transmitted infection.
  Reuters Health Information, December 2017
• Takeda Moves Ahead in Zika Race With Launch of Vaccine Trial Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical has moved ahead in the race to develop a vaccine for the mosquito-borne Zika virus, with the start of a clinical trial program backed by the U.S. government.
  Reuters Health Information, November 2017
• ASRMInfertile Couples Avoid Zika Areas, but Not Sex Couples who have difficulty having a baby alter their travel plans to avoid areas where the Zika virus is endemic, but do not change their behavior when it comes to conception, new research shows.
  Medscape Medical News, November 2017
• Children With Zika Virus Infection May Exhibit Few Symptoms Most children presenting with Zika virus infection have only two of the four main symptoms that characterize the illness, according to an epidemiological study.
  Reuters Health Information, November 2017
• Brain Calcification on CT Fades by Age 1 in Children With Zika Cerebral calcification should not be a key requirement for late diagnosis of congenital Zika syndrome, and patients who do not have calcifications may still have Zika, according to a 1-year follow-up study of children with the syndrome.
  Reuters Health Information, October 2017
• New CDC Guidance on Caring for Infants With Congenital Zika Updated guidance on caring for infants born to possibly Zika-infected mothers is stratified by the infant's clinical status and includes new clinical, laboratory, and monitoring recommendations.
  Medscape Medical News, October 2017
• Alert FDA OKs First Test to Screen Zika Virus in Donated Blood The cobas Zika test from Roche Molecular Systems is intended for blood collection establishments, not clinicians who want to diagnose individuals.
  FDA Approvals, October 2017