SAN DIEGO -- Information about Zika testing for providers and patients was available on only a small proportion of county health department sites in Texas, researchers reported here.
Information for providers about how to test patients for Zika was available on less than 10% of Texas' public health regional websites, but only 3.1% of the 254 Texas county health department websites, and 5% of the 39 metropolitan state health department websites, reported Adebayo Adesomo, MD, of UT Health San Antonio, and colleagues.
"Locally, we get a lot of complaints from providers who have no idea where to get testing, so we sent a team of medical students out to look at health department websites to see what information they have," co-author Patrick Ramsey, MD, also of UT Health San Antonio, said at a press conference at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' annual conference. Ramsey was co-author on all of the medical students' papers from UT Health San Antonio.
Infant Zika Infection May Cause Wide-Ranging Brain Damage
Zika virus infection during childhood usually does not cause serious illness, but an animal model suggests that infection during infancy may lead to adverse neurological and behavioral outcomes, researchers reported at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in San Francisco.
The most common symptoms in individuals infected with Zika as children or teens were fever, fatigue, rash, and headache, with only a small number developing severe illness requiring hospitalization, according to Jennifer Read, MD, from the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.
However, a study of macaque monkeys showed that Zika virus infection during infancy can cause structural and functional changes in the brain, reported Ann Chahroudi, MD, from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Novel Zika Vaccine Formulations Show Promise in Mice
A Zika vaccine with proprietary technology was highly effective in producing antibodies in a mice infected with Zika virus. Researchers writing in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases found that the Zika virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine -- which was developed by a biotechnology company in the business of novel vaccine technology -- found that the vaccine was well-tolerated and safe in mice infected with Zika. Different formulations of the vaccine were administered to mice who had recovered from Zika infection, and each vaccine produced an immune response in the mice. The researchers said their goal was to continue research on this vaccine and eventually expand their work into other viruses.