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By Christie CDC, Palmer PM, Tomlinson J., Green-Douglas T., Hamilton M., Pierre RB.,  Hylton-Kong T., Morgan O., Barrow G., Mitchell P., Skyers N., Stevens E-J., Condell-Gibson N, Harvey KM.

Jamaica is an upper middle-income developing Caribbean island-nation, population 2.8 million, with a generalized and mixed HIV epidemic. We report progress towards achieving international validation standards for the elimination of vertical transmission of HIV and syphilis in Jamaica during 2013 through 2015.

Published in: Annals of Public Health and Research 2017:4(2);1091-9.

By Halai UA, Nielsen-Saines K, Moreira ME, Sequeira PC, Pereira Junior JP, Zin AA, Cherry JD, Gabaglia CR, Gaw SL, Adachi K, Tsui I, Pilotto JH, Ribeiro Nogueira RM, Bispo de Filippis AM, Brasil P. 

Congenital Zika virus (ZIKV) syndrome is a newly identified condition resulting from infection during pregnancy. We analyzed outcome data from a mother-infant cohort in Rio de Janeiro in order to assess whether clinical severity of maternal ZIKV infection was associated with maternal virus load, prior dengue antibodies or abnormal pregnancy/infant outcomes.

Published in: Clin Infect Dis. 2017 May 23.

By Sáfadi MA, Nascimento-Carvalho CM

After remaining related to few sporadic cases in limited regions for more than half century since its discovery, Zika virus (ZIKV) was recently introduced into the Western Hemisphere, first in Brazil and then spreading very rapidly in the Americas. Unexpectedly, an increased incidence of microcephaly and other neurologic malformations in fetuses born to mothers infected with ZIKV during pregnancy was reported in Brazil, leading the World Health Organization to declare this situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern

Published in: Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2017 Mar;36(3):333-336. doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000001449.

By Garcez PP, Nascimento JM, de Vasconcelos JM, Madeiro da Costa R, Delvecchio R, Trindade P, Loiola EC, Higa LM, Cassoli JS, Vitória G, Sequeira PC, Sochacki J, Aguiar RS, Fuzii HT, de Filippis AMB, da Silva Gonçalves Vianez Júnior JL, Tanuri A, Martins-de-Souza D, Rehen SK. 

Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with microcephaly and other brain abnormalities; however, the molecular consequences of ZIKV to human brain development are still not fully understood. Here we describe alterations in human neurospheres derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells infected with the strain of Zika virus that is circulating in Brazil. Combining proteomics and mRNA transcriptional profiling, over 500 proteins and genes associated with the Brazilian ZIKV infection were found to be differentially expressed. These genes and proteins provide an interactome map, which indicates that ZIKV controls the expression of RNA processing bodies, miRNA biogenesis and splicing factors required for self-replication. It also suggests that impairments in the molecular pathways underpinning cell cycle and neuronal differentiation are caused by ZIKV. These results point to biological mechanisms implicated in brain malformations, which are important to further the understanding of ZIKV infection and can be exploited as therapeutic potential targets to mitigate it.

Published in: Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 23;7:40780.

By Sacramento CQ, de Melo GR, de Freitas CS, Rocha N, Hoelz LV, Miranda M, Fintelman-Rodrigues N, Marttorelli A, Ferreira AC, Barbosa-Lima G, Abrantes JL, Vieira YR, Bastos MM, de Mello Volotão E, Nunes EP, Tschoeke DA, Leomil L, Loiola EC, Trindade P, Rehen SK, Bozza FA, Bozza PT, Boechat N, Thompson FL, de Filippis AMB, Brüning K, Souza TM. 

Published in: Sci Rep. 2017 Jan 18;7: 40920

By Davidson T., Vickers I., Christie CD. 

Dengue fever is hyper-endemic in Jamaica with exponential rates of infection in successive outbreaks. The absence of local data and the potential for massive outbreaks in a country where a third of the population are children formed the basis for this study.

Published in: West Indian Medical Journal 2016;65(3);442-449. Epub, Oct, 2016.

By Christie CD, Melbourne-Chambers R, Ennevor J, Young-Peart S, Buchanan T, Scott-Brown P, McNeil-Beecher N, Fulford-Ramdial T, Richards-Dawson M, James-Powell T, Jackson ST. 

Chikungunya virus entered the Caribbean for the first time in 2013 and Jamaica experienced its maiden epidemic with Chikungunya Fever in 2014. We aimed to describe the public health effects and describe the clinical features in children and adolescents in Jamaica.

Published in: West Indian Medical Journal 2016;65(3);431-437. Epub, Oct, 2016; DOI:10.7727/wimj.2016.529.

By R Melbourne-Chambers, CDC Christie, E Greenaway, R Bullock

Dengue, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are all transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and are currently circulating in Jamaica. Jamaica has been experiencing a ZIKV epidemic since February 2016. At the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica, a cluster of five cases of paralysis attributed to neuro-inflammation was noted amongst adolescents admitted to the institution. Three were diagnosed with acute myelitis and one each with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Guillain Barre syndrome (GBS). In these patients, there were common presenting symptoms, characteristic findings of peripheral nerve involvement and a history of contact with persons with symptoms of possible ZIKV in the majority. In only one case was a viral association, Dengue infection, confirmed. This case series suggests a unique clinical pattern of neuro-inflammation in Jamaican adolescents occurring during the ZIKV epidemic and questions the role of the three circulating arboviruses in the pathogenesis.

Published in: West Indian Med J 2016; 65 (3): 425

By Melbourne-Chambers R., Christie CD, Greenaway E., Bullock R.

Dengue, Chikungunya Fever (CHIKV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) are all transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and are currently circulating in Jamaica. Jamaica has been experiencing a ZIKV epidemic since February 2016. At the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica, a cluster of five cases of paralysis attributed to neuro-inflammation was noted amongst adolescents admitted to the institution. Three were diagnosed with acute myelitis and one each with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and guillain barre syndrome (GBS). In these patients, there were common presenting symptoms, characteristic findings of peripheral nerve involvement and a history of contact with persons with symptoms of possible ZIKV in the majority. In only one case was a viral association, Dengue infection, confirmed. This case series suggests a unique clinical pattern of neuro-inflammation in Jamaican adolescents occurring during the ZIKV epidemic and questions the role of the three circulating arboviruses in the pathogenesis.

Published in: West Indian Medical Journal 2016;65(3):425-430. Epub, Oct 2016; DOI:10.772/wimj.2016.526