Physicians at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine published a case study this week on the first locally-transmitted case of Zika virus.
The study, titled Cutaneous Eruption in a U.S. Woman with a Locally Acquired Zika Virus Infection, focused on the skin rash associated with the pregnant woman’s diagnosis with Zika. Researchers with the University of Miami said the report may have implications for future ZIka screening, diagnoses, and linkage to care throughout the United States and abroad.
The patient’s diagnosis was notable due to it being the first confirmed case of non-travel-related Zika infection in the United States.
“Dermatologists and clinicians had an idea of what the Zika rash looked like, but it wasn’t until the patient presented here that we were able to get an up-close and personal look and photograph the skin,” Lucy Chen, lead author of the study, said. “Any doctor now has a visual sense of the rash to properly diagnose and refer patients to the appropriate specialists.”
The woman involved with the report was 23 weeks pregnant in July 2016 when she experienced symptoms of low-grade fever, widespread rash, and a sore throat. The rash consisted of small bumps around the patient’s chest, back, arms, legs and soles. Additional symptoms included muscle and joint pain.
Christine Curry of the University of Miami said the patient was an example of how the virus can circulate in the body of a pregnant woman for more than the typical one to two weeks as they found the virus in her system for two weeks in urine samples and six weeks in blood sample. The baby, born in October, did not test positive for Zika.