Office on Women's Health | womenshealth.gov

Office on Women's Health | womenshealth.gov

Health Professional Digest Volume 1, Issue 17

The HHS Office on Women’s Health (OWH) knows how important it is for you to have the latest information on prevention and treatment to help you best serve your patients. Each month, we will share a curated list of tools and resources that you can immediately put into practice. Zika Prevention and Diagnosis — News You Can Use Bug season is upon us, and what some patients think are pesky bug bites could be putting them at risk for contracting dangerous illnesses. One such disease is Zika virus. While there have not been any cases of local Zika transmission in the United States so far this year, 28 Zika cases have been reported in the United States as a result of travel to affected areas. While this is considerably lower than the number of cases at the height of the outbreak in 2016, Zika is still a threat to pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant, so it is important to be aware of the risk of transmission when traveling, along with the signs and symptoms. This summer, review the most recent information on Zika testing and prevention to help reduce the spread of this virus. Zika Testing Guidelines Knowing when to test your patients for Zika can be challenging, but it starts with determining if they have been exposed or are experiencing symptoms. Use CDC’s flow chart and testing guidelines to help you appropriately identify patients who need to be tested for Zika. Free Continuing Education Opportunities Medscape offers several continuing education opportunities about Zika for health professionals, including one about birth defects caused by Zika infection during pregnancy and another about CDC's updated guidance on Zika and pregnancy. Please note that a free Medscape account is required to access these resources.  False Positives and Caring for Pregnant Women With Possible Zika Virus Exposure When counseling pregnant women about testing for Zika, it is important to consider testing limitations. The prevalence of Zika is declining, which increases the likelihood of false-positive test results. Additionally, evidence indicates that Zika antibodies can be detected beyond 12 weeks after infection. As a result, tests cannot always distinguish between infections that occurred during pregnancy and infections that occurred before pregnancy. For more information on testing and counseling for pregnant women, read CDC's interim guidance.  Share With Your Patients Encourage your patients to review these resources on Zika prevention and diagnosis: CDC’s What You Need to Know About Zika CDC’s Doctor’s Visit Checklist: For Pregnant Women Living in an Area With Zika fact sheet CDC’s World Map of Areas With Risk of Zika EPA’s Tips to Prevent Mosquito Bites SAMHSA’s Reducing Stress and Anxiety Related to Zika OMH’s Spanish Language Resources About Zika For more updates on women’s health, follow OWH on Twitter.