WiRED Updates Zika Module for Health Care Providers
BY ALLISON KOZICHAROW AND BERNICE BORN
T
he Zika virus is no longer a phenomenon found just in America’s Southern Hemisphere. On June 15 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 234 pregnant women in the continental United States have been infected with the Zika virus.
In a continued effort to provide the most current information on Zika, WiRED International updated its Zika health education module for health care providers. This module describes the disease clinically and presents its signs and symptoms, modes of transmission, guidelines for laboratory testing, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
More on Zika
Wired International
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
World Health Organization
Zika is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito and, and according to CDC, causes microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome and other neurological disorders. Because the Zika virus is not life-threatening and displays mild or no symptoms in its victims, its consequences are all the more unpredictable and devastating.
On June 14 the World Health Organization (WHO) held a third meeting of its Emergency Committee on the Zika virus. During the meeting the committee members noted an increase in associated neurological disorders and neonatal malformations, and WHO reiterated that pregnant women should not travel to areas of ongoing Zika virus outbreaks.
The Olympics will be staged in Brazil this year, where, to date, 4,908 confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly in newborns are associated with their mothers’ having contracted the Zika virus.
WiRED offers modules on Zika for health professionals and grassroots audiences in English, Spanish and Portuguese. WiRED will continue to provide free information and updates on this insidious disease.
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