CDC Releases Guidelines For Pregnant Women During Zika Outbreak
Posted on January 20, 2016
Source:
The Washington Post
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising obstetricians and other health-care professionals who care for pregnant women to test them for Zika infection if they show symptoms after visiting more than a dozen countries and territories where local transmission of the virus has occurred.
The interim CDC guidelines focus on pregnant women who have fever, rash, muscle aches or conjunctivitis (pink eye) during or within two weeks of their travel to any of those locations. A positive finding for the virus should be reported to the appropriate local or state health department, CDC said.
Pregnant women who test positive should consider scheduling regular ultrasounds to monitor the growth of their fetus. Officials say that "increasingly strong evidence" points to a link between the virus and fetal brain damage.
Because no medication or vaccine is available, treatment focuses on easing symptoms. Pregnant women who have fever should be given acetaminophen.