Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Infectious disease update

The Good news: There is a new Dengue vaccine

local news says we will start a different less efficient version here soon. One problem with Dengue (and maybe the vaccine) is that second cases can be worse than the first bout.


Bad News: Zika is coming, and spread not just via mosquitos but sex...and now, the CDC has a "headsup" on how to protect personnel in the delivery room, just in case.

 Most persons infected with Zika virus have a mild illness or are asymptomatic. However, increasing evidence supports a link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes (1), and a possible association between recent Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barré syndrome has been reported (2). Although Zika virus is primarily transmitted through the bite of Aedes species of mosquitoes, sexual transmission also has been documented (3). Zika virus RNA has been detected in a number of body fluids, including blood, urine, saliva, and amniotic fluid (35), and whereas transmission associated with occupational exposure to these body fluids is theoretically possible, it has not been documented

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