Despite having
declared the Zika epidemic over back in July, Columbia still finds itself confronting
the epidemic’s reverberations. CDC epidemiologist, and Chief of the Birth Defects
Branch of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
(NCBDDD), Margaret Honein, led a team of researchers in evaluating Zika’s
impact on Columbia. In a recently released report, the team noted that 476
cases of microcephaly were reported in the period from January 31 to November
12. This represents a near four-fold increase from the 110 cases reported over
the same period last year. For the month of July, the team found a nine-fold
increase from 2015 to 2016. Data from the report has also shed some light on the
risk that the virus presents for pregnant mothers, based on the time of
infection.
The group found that Zika virus likely presents the greatest risk for infant microcephaly for infections occurring during the first trimester of pregnancy, since the greatest amount of microcephaly
reports came about 24 weeks after the peak of the Zika outbreak. Though the
findings have proven useful, there remain significant limitations to fully
analyzing the extent of the virus’ impact on the country. Honein’s team stated
that the reported numbers of microcephaly came from all cases, not just those
with confirmed links to Zika. For instance, some of the reported infant microcephaly
cases were tied to herpes simplex virus (15 infants) and cytomegalovirus (4
infants) infection. Furthermore, Columbia’s method of birth defect reporting is
passive, meaning that the numbers don’t actually represent all microcephaly
cases – just reported ones.
Ahmed Mustafa (’18)
Link to report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6549e1.htm
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