This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
WHO advises pregnant women to avoid areas with active Zika transmission
During the second meeting under the International Health Regulations, WHO’s Emergency Committee acted to enforce guidance previously set by the CDC advising pregnant women to avoid traveling to areas with ongoing Zika activity, according to a press release.
WHO previously rejected the idea of travel restrictions related to Zika virus for pregnant women, and said most women in Zika-endemic regions will not give birth to infants with microcephaly.
Margaret Chan
“Since this emergency committee on Zika virus first met on Feb. 1, substantial new clinical and epidemiological research has strengthened the association between Zika infection and the occurrence of fetal malformations and neurological disorders,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, MD, said in a statement. “We can now conclude that Zika virus is neurotropic, preferentially affecting tissues in the brain and brain stem of the developing fetus.”
In addition, Chan said other “grave” outcomes, including fetal death, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and damage to the central nervous system, have been linked to Zika infection during pregnancy.
The committee also reiterated WHO’s guidance for pregnant women with partners living in or traveling to areas with Zika transmission to practice safe sexual behaviors.
“Reports and investigations from several countries strongly suggest that sexual transmission of the virus is more common that previously assumed,” Chan said in the statement. “All of this news is alarming.”
Local transmission of Zika has spread to 31 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, Chan said, and imported cases were reported from every region in the world. In response, the Emergency Committee recommended that countries should consider disinsecting airplanes, and that existing vector control measures at airports should be maintained. The committee also stressed that “strong public health actions should not wait for definitive scientific proof,” Chan said.
Nine countries have reported an increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases or laboratory-confirmed Zika virus infection in GBS cases. Although only two countries — French Polynesia and Brazil — have documented cases of microcephaly linked to Zika virus, enhanced surveillance for fetal abnormalities will be implemented in countries such as Colombia where outbreaks occurred later in the epidemic.