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By Soriano-Arandes A, Rivero-Calle I, Nastouli E, et al.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has caused the most challenging worldwide infectious epidemic outbreak in recent months. ZIKV causes microcephaly and other congenital malformations. There is a need to perform updated systematic reviews on ZIKV infection periodically because this epidemic is bringing up new evidence with extraordinary speed.

Published in: Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2018 Mar;16(3):243-254

By Gabriela M Blohm, John A Lednicky, Marilianna Márquez, Sarah K White, Julia C Loeb, Carlos A Pacheco, David J Nolan, Taylor Paisie, Marco Salemi, Alfonso J Rodríguez-Morales, J Glenn Morris, Juliet R C Pulliam, Alberto E Paniz-Mondolfi

Zikavirus (ZIKV) is an emerging viral pathogen that continues to spread throughout different regions of the world. Herein we report a case that provides further evidence that ZIKV transmission can occur through breastfeeding by providing a detailed clinical, genomic, and virological case-based description.

Published in: Clin Infect Dis. 2018 Mar 19;66(7):1120-1121.

By Badolato-Corrêa J, Sánchez-Arcila JC, et al.

Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) co-circulated during latest outbreaks in Brazil, hence, it is important to evaluate the host cross-reactive immune responses to these viruses. So far, little is known about human T cell responses to ZIKV and no reports detail adaptive immune responses during DENV/ZIKV coinfection.

Published in: Immun Inflamm Dis. 2018 Jun; 6(2): 194–206.

By Nelson B, Melbourne-Chambers R, Christie CDC

Zika Virus is neurotropic. We report two children from the Caribbean island of Grenada, a three-year-old with acute neuro-inflammation who had intractable seizures, meningo-encephalitis, CSF pleocytosis and Zika IgM positive acute serology and a four-year-old with acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis manifesting as generalized seizures, optic neuritis, diffuse cerebral dysfunction, encephalopathy, impaired speech and ataxia who also had CSF pleocytosis as well as Zika IgM and dengue IgM positive acute serologies. Both cases occurred during the 2016 Zika and Dengue fever epidemic in Grenada. Both children recovered completely. The etiologic role of the Zika and Dengue arboviruses is discussed.

Published in: West Indian Med J. Published Online: December 20, 2017 (doi:10.7727/wimj.2017.227) 

By Schwarz ER.

Measles, mumps, and rubella have recently taken the stage as re-emerging diseases of public health importance-particularly in regards to the consequences seen with perinatal infections. Effective vaccination strategies have successfully reduced the spread of measles, mumps, and rubella in the United States, but a current trend of increased vaccination hesitancy, fear of vaccine safety, and spread of misconceptions surrounding the science of vaccines have led to a relative resurgence of these diseases in the developed world. This article aims to explore why measles, mumps, and rubella should continue to be on the radar of medical professionals, and why the study of these diseases is important for understanding other teratogenic viruses of public health importance.

Published in: Curr Opin Virol. 2017;27:71-77