Seasonality of birth defects in West Africa: could congenital Zika syndrome be to blame?

Name	World Continuing Education Alliance
Activity Title	Seasonality of birth defects in West Africa: could congenital Zika syndrome be to blame?
Details	Since 2015, when an initial link between Zika Virus (ZIKV) and microcephaly was discovered in Braziln Objectives Course Objective The link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and microcephaly and other neurodevelopmental defects in infants, referred to as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), was recently discovered. One key question that remains is whether such neurodevelopmental abnormalities are limited to the recently evolved Asiatic ZIKV strains or if they can also be induced by endemic African strains. Thus, we examined birth registries from one particular hospital from a country in West Africa, where ZIKV is endemic. Results showed a seasonal pattern of birth defects that is consistent with potential CZS, which corresponds to a range of presumed maternal infection that encompasses both the peak of the warm, rainy season as well as the months immediately following it, when mosquito activity is likely high. While we refrain from definitively linking ZIKV infection and birth defects in West Africa at this time, in part due to scant data available from the region, we hope that this report will initiate bro...
Competence	Paediatrics and Child Health
Start Date	<span class="not-set">(not set)</span>
End Date	<span class="not-set">(not set)</span>
Event Time	01:15 PM
Location	World Continuing Education Alliance eLearning System
Cost (UGX)	0
CPD Points	1