The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Morbidity and Mortality Report, which highlights 10 critical contributions the agency has made in the fight against the spread of Zika virus in 2016.
CDC highlighted new public health surveillance and infection control tools that reduced the effect of Zika infection on children and families, providing a foundation for continuing efforts in fighting the virus.
Critical contributions made by the CDC included issuing travel guidance to warn pregnant women not to travel to areas with known Zika infections; publishing clinical guidance for the care of pregnant women, their fetuses, and infants; identifying sexual transmission of the virus; monitoring blood safety and availability; developing and distributing laboratory test kits and reagents; and establishing a causal link between Zika virus infection during pregnancy and the severe birth defects caused by the virus like microcephaly.
“Fighting Zika is the most complex epidemic response CDC has taken on, requiring expertise ranging from pregnancy and birth defects to mosquito control, from laboratory science to travel policy, from virology to communication science,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said. “CDC experts in every field will continue to protect women and their families from the devastating complications of this threat.”
Additional contributions include gathering and analyzing Zika virus surveillance data, improving access to the full range of voluntary contraceptive methods to decrease unintended pregnancies, implementing mosquito control strategies and building an evidence base for best practices, and improving the understanding of the link between neurological conditions and Zika infection.