Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) | April 4, 2017
Read the PublicationBetween January 1, 2015, and December 14, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) found mosquito-transmitted Zika virus infections in 69 countries or territories and person-to-person Zika virus transmission in 13 of them. Of great concern, in 29 of the 69 countries, Zika virus–associated central nervous system (CNS) malformations (such as microcephaly) were found among infants and fetuses suggestive of congenital infection.1 Although these Zika virus–related CNS abnormalities were first recognized in the Americas in 2015, the earliest known cases occurred in the French Polynesia islands in 2014. Zika virus–related CNS abnormalities also have been seen in Southeast Asia and West Africa.1