Epidemiological update: Outbreaks of Zika virus and complications potentially linked to the Zika virus infection, 18 August 2016

​ Page last updated: 19 August 2016

 

Since 1 February 2016, Zika virus infection and the related clusters of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders have been declared to constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Since 2015, and as of 18 August 2016, WHO has reported 67 countries and territories with mosquito-borne transmission, including most recently the State of Florida in the USA. As of 18 August 2016, 17 countries or territories have reported microcephaly and other central nervous system (CNS) malformations potentially associated with Zika virus infection or suggestive of congenital infection.

New developments since the last epidemiological update

United States of America

Ten new autochthonous cases have been reported in Florida since the last CDTR, bringing the number of locally transmittedcases to 35. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) is continuously investigating six cases that do not have an immediateevident link to the one-square-mile area in Miami-Dade County where they believe the local transmission is occurring.

 

Health officials have been collecting and testing human samples, and mosquito abatement activities are underway in some ofareas of interest.

 
Guinea Bissau

Seven new cases were found to be positive for Zika. Of the mosquitoes collected, 80% were Aedes aegypti and Aedesluteocephalus which indicates that the risk index is high. Five cases of microcephaly have been reported since April 2016.Investigations of these cases are ongoing. The gene sequencing results of the four confirmed Zika cases sent on 1 July are stillpending.

Haiti and Guatemala reported their first cases of babies born with microcephaly linked to Zika.

 

EU/EEA imported cases

 

Since week 45/2015, 19 countries (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK) have reported 1 265 travel associated Zika virus infections through The European Surveillance System (TESSy). France reported 56% of the cases. Over the same time period, six countries reported 69 Zika cases among pregnant women.

EU’s Outermost Regions and Territories

As of 18 August 2016:

 

 

Guadeloupe: 28 065 suspected cases have been detected, an increase of 730 suspected cases since last week. The weeklynumber of cases continues to decrease.

French Guiana: 9 460 suspected cases have been detected, an increase of 65 cases since last week. The weekly number of caseshas been decreasing over the last four weeks.

 

Martinique: 34 960 suspected cases have been reported, an increase of 220 since last week. The weekly number ofcases continues to decline.

 

St Barthélemy: 490 suspected cases have been detected, an increase of 50 suspected cases since last week. The weekly numberof cases is still considered high.

St Martin: 1 975 suspected cases have been detected, an increase of 45 suspected cases since last week. The weekly number ofcases has been continuously decreasing over the last five weeks.

 

 

Update on microcephaly and/or central nervous system (CNS) malformations potentially associated with Zika virus infection

  

As of 18 August 2016, microcephaly and other central nervous system (CNS) malformations associated with Zika virus infection orsuggestive of congenital infection had been reported by 17 countries or territories. Brazil has reported the highest number ofcases. Eighteen countries and territories worldwide have reported an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and/orlaboratory confirmation of a Zika virus infection among GBS cases.

Since February 2016, 11 countries have reported evidence of person-to-person transmission of Zika virus, probably via a sexualroute.

In the EU, Spain (2) and Slovenia (1) have reported congenital malformations associated with Zika virus infection after travel inthe affected areas. Cases have also been detected in the EU’s Outermost Regions and Territories in Martinique, French Guianaand French Polynesia.

 

ECDC assessment

The spread of the Zika virus epidemic in the Americas is likely to continue as the vectors (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes) are widely distributed there. The likelihood of travel-related cases in the EU is increasing. A detailed risk assessment is available here, published on 8 July 2016. As neither treatment nor vaccines are available, prevention is based on personal protection measures. Pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant and planning to travel to areas with widespread transmission should postpone non-essential travel.


 

 

Table 1. Countries and territories with reported confirmed autochthonous cases of Zika virus infection in the past three months, as of 19 August 2016

The classification of countries above is based on: 1) number of reported autochthonous confirmed cases; 2) number of countries who report a zika virus transmission or a country’s transmission status changes; 3) duration of the circulation.

All ECDC maps with information on countries or territories with reported confirmed autochthonous cases of Zika virus infection

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