Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico on Friday reported its first case of a baby born with microcephaly as a result of a Zika infection, raising concerns because officials said the medical condition wasn't identified until the mother was nearly eight months pregnant. The baby was born in the past two weeks with severe brain defects as well as hearing and vision problems and remains hospitalized, according to Health Secretary Ana Rius. https://apnews.com/2909c1f1a62949cab685b2fde51ed4f1

Update: Ongoing Zika Virus Transmission — Puerto Rico, November 1, 2015–July 7, 2016Early Release / July 29, 2016 / 65 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6530e1.htm?s_cid=mm6530e1_e

Clinical Infectious Diseases paper describes severe thrombocytopenia in two patients in Puerto Rico, including a fatal case. http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/07/13/cid.ciw476.abstract

Utah State has released a full Zika PRVABC-59 sequence. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/KX377337.1

Volume 22, Number 7—July 2016ResearchHigh Incidence of Chikungunya Virus and Frequency of Viremic Blood Donations during Epidemic, Puerto Rico, USA, 2014http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/7/16-0116_article

Screening of Blood Donations for Zika Virus Infection — Puerto Rico, April 3–June 11, 2016Early Release / June 17, 2016 / 65 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6524e2.htm?s_cid=mm6524e2_w#F1_down

Zika: The Epidemic at America's DoorZika may have already infected 80,000 Americans, just in Puerto Rico, and Congress has refused to act — what if Miami or New York is next? BY JANET REITMAN June 15, 2016 Share Tweet Share Comment Email "There's a surprise a day with the virus," says the CDC's Zika expert. "That's the untold story — there's a lot we just don't know." Puerto Rico's Martin Peña canal is a winding, heavily polluted waterway that snakes 3.7 miles through the center of San Juan. Eight small, deeply impoverished communities, all lacking an efficient sewage system, surround the channel, and have for generations dumped untreated waste directly into the mud-…

The Zika virus is creeping north toward the continental U.S., and Alberto de la Vega has started to detect its signs. In ultrasounds he gives pregnant women who are infected with the virus in this American territory, he has seen a 22-week-old fetus with serious brain damage and two others with stunted growth. He is bracing for more. “If you ask me in a month,” says Dr. de la Vega, an obstetrician-gynecologist and chief of a high-risk-pregnancy unit at the capital’s University Hospital, “we may have 10 times the detection rate.” http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/06/09/zika-virus-swamps-embattled-puerto-rico.html

Tally page for week MoH updates Diseases Weekly Report Arboviral (ArboV) The Weekly Report Abovirales Disease Department of Health of Puerto Rico collects the latest information on cases of Dengue, chikungunya and Zika information. It includes cases reported to the respective surveillance systems and is published every Friday. The summary shows the number of confirmed cases of Dengue, chikungunya and Zika of the last three weeks, as well as cases accumulated in the calendar year. The term "Suspect cases" refers to the total number of samples received for analysis, while "Confirmed Cases" refers to the number of samples positive for the disease, confirmed by laboratory t…

Puerto Rico on Friday announced its first Zika-related microcephaly case as concerns grow over an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus in the U.S. territory. Health Secretary Ana Rius said a fetus turned over by an unidentified woman to U.S. health officials had severe microcephaly and tested positive for Zika. Rius declined to say whether the woman had an abortion or miscarried, but said the microcephaly was diagnosed through a sonogram. She declined to provide other details. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3589282/Puerto-Rico-reports-1st-Zika-related-microcephaly-case.html#ixzz48YvUMIhE Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

CNN describes pregnant case Zika infected in first trimester (12 weeks) whose baby's head circumference was in the 40-50 percentile at week 18 and is below 20th percentile at week 22. A similar reduction in Washington DC ex-Guatemala (from 47th percentile in 16th week to 24th percentile in 20th week) was described as severe brain atrophy by the CDC in MMWR on US pregnant cases.

JCVI has generated a full Puerto Rico Zika sequence from December 2015 collection, PRI/PRVABC59/2015

Update: Ongoing Zika Virus Transmission — Puerto Rico, November 1, 2015–April 14, 2016Early Release / April 29, 2016 / 65 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6517e2.htm?s_cid=mm6517e2_w

Puerto Rico Sees Rise in Zika Cases, Paralyzing ConditionBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Mar 28, 2016, 5:31 PM ET 9SHARES Email Puerto Rico says more than 100 new cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus have been reported in the past week. Health authorities said Monday that the U.S. territory now has 350 cases, 40 of which involve pregnant women. Experts think Zika infections may be linked to microcephaly, which causes babies to have unusually small heads and brain damage. The paralyzing condition known as Guillain-Barre syndrome also is being looked for possible links to Zika, and Puerto Rican officials said two news cases of that were reported, for a…

Medical sleuths descend on Puerto Rico to unearth mysteries of ZikaTwitterFacebookLinkedInEmailPrintERIKA P. RODRIGUEZ FOR STAT Joan Kenney, right, a microbiologist, selects mosquitoes to test the effectiveness of different insecticides at the CDC dengue branch in San Juan. By HELEN BRANSWELL @HelenBranswell MARCH 15, 2016 SAN JUAN — Hordes of American scientists and health officials have descended on Brazil since the Zika epidemic first emerged there last year. But it’s here, in this island territory, where leading disease researchers from the US government can really throw the weight of all their resources on the problem. Puerto Rico is, in some respects, a massive Z…

Puerto Rico reports 201 confirmed Zika casesBy ASSOCIATED PRESS PUBLISHED: 12:36 EST, 11 March 2016 | UPDATED: 12:36 EST, 11 March 2016 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's Health Department is reporting 201 confirmed Zika cases amid warnings the U.S. territory could face an epidemic of the mosquito-borne virus. Officials said Friday that 21 of those cases involve pregnant women. This concerns health authorities because Zika may be linked to microcephaly, which causes babies to have unusually small heads and brain damage. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited the island on Tuesday as federal officials stepped up effort…

Puerto Rico Confirms 157 Cases of Zika Virus San Juan, Mar 8 (Prensa Latina) The Health Minister of Puerto Rico, Ana Rius Armendariz, said today that during the island''s eighth week of virus alert, the country had confirmed 157 cases of Zika virus, including 14 pregnant women. She confirmed this in a meeting with the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - Dr. Thomas Frieden, who traveled to Puerto Rico in an effort to establish collaborative ties in the fight against the virus. "The CDC is offering us technical support and we are helping them to get to know the disease better," Rius said. Rius noted that Health Department officials are …

Secretary of Health, Ana Ríus Armendariz, reported today that the agency has confirmed 54 new cases of zika this week, including two pregnant women. Ríus Armendariz also said that 117 cases are within six weeks of surveillance of the virus. http://www.metro.pr/noticias/salud-confirma-54-casos-de-zika-esta-semana/pGXpbz!LwRPpuGlZ7Io/

Early release MMWR on Local Transmission of Zika Virus — Puerto Rico http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6506e2er.htm?s_cid=mm6506e2.htm_w

Fri Feb 5, 2016 12:53pm EST Related: HEALTHPuerto Rico declares public health emergency over Zika virusBY MEGAN DAVIES AND LUC COHENPuerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla on Friday declared a public health emergency because of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, a government statement said. Puerto Rican health officials have confirmed 22 cases, including a pregnant woman and a man with Zika who developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, a separate government statement said. Guillain-Barre is a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves. Health authorities would track the Zika cases and report results weekly, the government said. The virus is having an im…

PUERTO RICO – at least 19 laboratory-confirmed cases for Zika have been confirmed. Zika Americas By The NumbersPublished on Jan 29 2016, at 8:05 amFACEBOOKEMAILPINTERESTTWITTERGOOGLE+LINKEDIN A health worker calls out to residents to remain inside during fumigation in an attempt to eradicate the mosquito which transmits the Zika virus on January 28, 2016 in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) By NAN Staff Writer News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 29, 2016: The mosquito-virus Zika continues to spread across the Americas – Latin America and the Caribbean. Arrival of the virus in some countries of the Americas, notably Brazil, has been …