Zika and cases of microcephaly in the state of Zulia: clinical and epidemiological aspects of the sprout, year 2016

• Main Authors: María Gómez, Ayarí Avila, Elina Castillo, Angelina Marquez, Nelys Barboza, Belen Rodríguez, Luisa Marquez, Gisbel Ferrer, Manuel Gómez
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish
• Published: Universidad del Zulia,Facultad de Medicina,Departamento de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales 2018
• Subjects: Zika; epidemia; epidemiologia; microcefalia; síndrome de Guillain Barré; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic; Barré
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/71a0ded7ea22410fa5aa60b7061d5fba

Zika is an emerging disease in Venezuela and in the state of Zulia, it generally evolves in a benign manner and can produce complications such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly in newborns. Itis proposed to describe the clinical and epidemiological aspects of the Zika outbreak and the cases of microcephaly. The research is descriptive, cross-sectional, conducted from May 2016 to March 2017. The population consisted of 1,155 suspected cases, with a sample of 228 patients, resulting in 108 positive PCR in real time. The largest number of cases occurred at the age of 17 to 33 years (59.3%), with a predominance of females (81.5%), in the municipalities of Maracaibo and San Francisco (75%). In relation to the symptomatology, the frequent are rash (84.3%), headache and fever (76.9%), while arthralgia (65.7%) and myalgia (47.2%) are less common. During the outbreak, there were two deaths of the male sex, representing 1.9%; 146 cases with Guillain-Barré syndrome and 7 cases with microcephaly, corresponding to the male sex (85%), with a newborn gestational age of 37.4 weeks and 85% survival. The main recommendation should be directed to the control of the transmitting vector of the disease and to make the diagnosis of the suspicious cases for their confirmation.