Less Than A Dozen Adverse Zika Pregnancy Outcomes In US

[niman]

The "official" number of cited Zika pregnancy adverse neurological  outcomes in the US is at two (live severe microcephaly birth in Hawaii ex-Brazil and District of Columbia ex-Guatemala termination after severe brain atrophy) as well as microcephaly termination in Puerto Rico.

However, today's press release on asymptomatic Zika positive pregnancy cases noted that there were "less than a dozen" adverse outcomes, suggesting most adverse outcomes have not been made public.

 

Edited May 21, 2016 by niman

[niman]

DR. MARGARET HONEIN:  thank you for your question.  I’ll address the first one.  The majority of the pregnancies being monitored by these two Zika virus surveillance systems are still ongoing.  At this time there's relatively few adverse birth out comes and we’re not reporting on specific outcomes out of concern of protecting the privacy of the affected families.  Among those pregnancies with lab evidence of Zika virus infection that are being monitored by these two surveillance systems, CDC is aware of less than a dozen adverse out comes.  The adverse outcomes include miscarriages and birth defects. 

While we're not reporting the specific information about the cases at this time, we are working closely with our partners at state, local and territorial health departments to obtain full information on those adverse outcomes.  

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/t0520-zika-update.html