On June 4th – 6th 2018 the ZIKAction team participated in the International Symposium on Zika virus held in Marseille, which provided the excellent opportunity to present the first results of the Paediatric ZIKV Spanish Cohort (PedZIKARed). This initiative represents a significant contribution to the joint European effort to set up a preparedness platform against epidemics.
This ongoing multi-centre Spanish observational cohort of ZIKV-exposed mother-child pairs was set up with the goal of describing the initial clinical/serological outcomes of ZIKV-exposed children born in a non-endemic country. All babies born to women with confirmed (positive RT-PCR-ZIKV in serum or urine) or probable ZIKV infection (positive IgM-ZIKV or positive IgG-ZIKV plus positive or doubtful for ZIKV-PRNT) were recruited at birth in the main referral paediatric tropical medicine centres in Spain, with maternal laboratory/clinical data obtained from gestational database (GESTZIKARED).
The results presented in Marseille related to 119 ZIKV-infected pregnant women: 35% from South America, 37% from Dominican Republic, 25% from Central America. Eight had confirmed and 111 had probable ZIKV infection, and they delivered between April 2016 and January 2018 (Figure). Of the eight pregnant women with confirmed ZIKV infection, two had positive ZIKV-PCR amniotic fluid results, both of whom delivered infants with Congenital Zika Syndrome (both with microcephaly). No other infants had CZS. One of the two infants with CZS had positive IgM/RT-PCR at birth.
Deliveries through the period:
Ongoing infant follow-up of this largest series of prenatally ZIKV-exposed children in Europe will provide estimates of timing of IgG-ZIKV sero-reversion due to loss of maternal antibodies, as well as further understanding of longer-term outcomes related to prenatal exposure to ZIKV.
Toni Soriano-Arandes is Paediatrician MD, MSc Epi, researcher at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital · Department of Paediatrics. He is the coordinator of the Paediatric ZIKV Spanish Cohort (PedZIKARed).
