Summary: Colombian Women with Zika Virus Deliver Healthy Babies

No reported cases of microcephaly or brain abnormalities in babies born to women who contracted Zika virus disease in third trimester.

• The New England Journal of Medicine recently released a report on the Zika virus disease in Colombia.  The New England Journal of Medicine report reviewed data collected on the Zika virus disease from August 9, 2015 to April 2, 2016. Of the 65,726 confirmed cases, 11,944 were pregnant women. “In a subgroup of 1850 pregnant women, more than 90% of women who were reportedly infected during the third trimester had given birth, and no infants with apparent abnormalities, including microcephaly, have been identified.”

  The report cites a published case report of Zika RNA found in the blood of a pregnant woman at 4 weeks and 10 weeks after the onset of infection but it was not present after delivery.

  Among the report’s most striking conclusions is that Colombia’s preliminary surveillance data “suggest that maternal infection with the Zika virus during the third trimester of pregnancy is not linked to structural abnormalities in the fetus.” The report notes that Colombia continues to monitor the effects of the Zika virus on pregnant women.[1]

   

[1]Oscar Pacheco, M.D., Mauricio Beltrán, M.S., Christina A. Nelson, M.D., Diana Valencia, M.S., Natalia Tolosa, M.D., Sherry L. Farr, Ph.D., Ana V. Padilla, M.D., Van T. Tong, M.P.H., Esther L. Cuevas, M.S., Andrés Espinosa-Bode, M.D., Lissethe Pardo, B.S., Angélica Rico, B.S., Jennita Reefhuis, Ph.D., Maritza González, M.D., Marcela Mercado, M.S., Pablo Chaparro, M.D., Mancel Martínez Duran, M.D., Carol Y. Rao, Sc.D., María M. Muñoz, M.D., Ann M. Powers, Ph.D., Claudia Cuéllar, M.D., Rita Helfand, M.D., Claudia Huguett, M.S., Denise J. Jamieson, M.D., Margaret A. Honein, Ph.D., and Martha L. Ospina Martínez, M.D.

 “Zika Virus Disease in Colombia – Preliminary Report”

From Instituto Nacional de Salud (O.P., M.B., N.T., A.V.P., E.L.C., L.P., A.R., M.G., M.M., P.C., M.M.D., C.H., M.L.O.M.) and Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social (M.M.M., C.C.) — both in Bogota, Colombia; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta (C.A.N., D.V., S.L.F., V.T.T., A.E.-B., J.R., C.Y.R., A.M.P., R.H., D.J.J., M.A.H.). This article was published on June 15, 2016, at NEJM.org. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1604037 Copyright © 2016 Massachusetts Medical Society