SFDPH Zika updates June 7, 2017 Public Health, SF Dept of Public Health Health Update, SFDPH, Zika 0 Below are several Zika updates and resources from the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) as the warmer weather and summer travel season approaches. 1) Continue to counsel your patients who are pregnant or planning pregnancy to avoid travel to areas with Zika and to use precautions to prevent sexual transmission of Zika. Continue to test patients for Zika according to CDC guidance. The list of countries and areas with Zika transmission and the corresponding travel and testing recommendations continue to evolve. Please consult the CDC website frequently for the most up-to-date information. The CDC webpage with the clearest information regarding Zika risk in areas outside the United States is this one: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/countries-territories.html Note that pregnant women who have traveled to areas with Zika travel notices or who have had unprotected sex with partners who have traveled to areas with Zika travel notices are at the highest risk for contracting Zika, and should be tested for Zika per the usual protocols. Zika testing is not recommended for asymptomatic pregnant women who have traveled to “other areas with Zika risk,” because the chance of contracting Zika is lower. For more detailed information, please see the CDC webpage linked above and SFDPH’s March 29, 2017 Zika Health Advisory linked here: http://www.sfcdcp.org/healthalerts.html 2) The travel advisory for Miami-Dade County in Florida was lifted on June 2nd, 2017 because 45 days had passed with no local Zika transmission. There is no longer a recommendation for pregnant women to avoid travel to Miami-Dade County, and pregnant women who travel to Miami-Dade County after June 2nd or who have had unprotected sex with a partner who traveled there after June 2nd do not need to be tested for Zika. Pregnant women are still recommended to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites while they are in Miami. Detailed information regarding the Florida travel situation is available here: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/intheus/florida-update.html If the situation in Florida changes and local transmission becomes an issue again, we expect that another travel advisory will be issued. 3) If your practice is testing for Zika through a commercial send-out lab rather than through the public health system, please use the CDC algorithm to determine which tests to order depending on symptoms and timeframe. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/pdfs/testing_algorithm.pdf Please note that any specimens that are Zika IgM positive will be sent on to the California Department of Public Health lab for PRNT confirmation. Please consult the SFDPH Zika webpages for patients and providers for additional updates and resources. SFDPH hopes to be posting more multilingual materials for patients soon. http://www.sfcdcp.org/zika_providers.html http://www.sfcdcp.org/zika The SFDPH team continues to follow all pregnant patients with laboratory evidence of Zika infection, and will continue to be available to answer questions and provide guidance regarding Zika testing. Comments are closed.
