>>> GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME TO "CONNECTING POINT."
I'M JIM MADIGAN.
WE BEGIN TONIGHT WITH DR.
ANDREW HEALY.
HE IS A PERINATOLOGIST, A SPECIALIST IN AT-RISK
PREGNANCIES AT BAYSTATE MEDICAL CENTER.
BAYSTATE HEALTH SYSTEMS IS AN UNDERWRITER FOR "CONNECTING
POINT."
WE TALKED ABOUT THE ZIKA VOICER, THOUGHT TO BE ESPECIALLY
DANGEROUS FOR A PREGNANT WOMAN.
DR.
HEALY SAYS THERE'S A LOT OF CONFUSION ABOUT ZIKA AS HE GAVE
EGGS A PRIMARIER ON THE CREPT SITUATION.
>> I THINK THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE VIRUS HAVE REALLY YET TO BE
WELL DEFINED.
THERE CERTAINLY IS A CONCERN ABOUT AN ASSOCIATION WITH A
CONDITION CALLED MICROSELFLY WHICH IS A DEVASTATING
CONDITION.
BABIES WITH MICROENCEPHALY ARE AT RISK AT INCREASED RISK FOR
COMPLICATIONS SUCH AS BLINDNESS, DEAFNESS, SEIZURES,
DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY.
BUT THE TRUTH IS WE DON'T KNOW THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
MICROENCEPHALY CAUSED BY THE ZIKA VIRUS BECAUSE THESE BABIES
ARE STILL VERY YOUNG.
AND THEY HAVE YET TO SHOW THE IMPACT OF THE MICROENCEPHALY.
WHAT'S IMPORTANT ALSO TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT THIS COMES
FROM BRAZIL WHERE THE INCIDENCE WENT FROM00 CASES OR SO UP TO
ABOUT CLOSE TO 4,000.
NOW, THIS HAPPENED ALONG THE SAME TIME AS PEOPLE COMING DOWN
WITH THE ZIKA VIRUS.
AND THE ZIKA VIRUS HAS BEEN ISOLATED FROM SOME OF THESE
BABIES.
BUT IT'S NOT CLEAR THAT THE ZIKA NECESSARILY CAUSES THE
MICROCEPHALY.
ARE THERE OTHER FACTORS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN TO RESULT IN THIS
CONDITION?
CERTAINLY THAT IS THE CONCERN AT THIS POINT.
BUT AT THIS POINT, IT'S JUST AN ASSOCIATION.
>> THE SCIENCE JUST ISN'T COMPLETE AT THIS POINT, FAIR TO
SAY?
>> CORRECT, CORRECT.
>> OKWITH THAT IN MIND, THE CONCERN IS THIS VIRUS
TRANSMITTED WE THINK PRIMARILY BY A BITE FROM THE AEDES
MOSQUITO GENERALLY FOUND IN THE TROPICS, NOT IN OUR AREA, NOT IN
THE U.S. SO IT WOULD SEEM, UNLESS SOMEONE
HAS TRAVELED OR IS TRAVELING, PROBABLY SAFE?
>> WILL WITH, THE MOSQUITO IS NOT FOUND, THERE ARE TWO
MOSQUITOES.
AND ONE OF THEM, THE ONE THAT MORE COMMONLY SPREADS THIS
VIRUS, IS FOUND IN THE GULF COAST, SOME OF THE GULF COAST
STATES, FLORIDA, BUT IS CERTAINLY NOT UP IN
MASSACHUSETTS.
THERE IS A SECOND TYPE OF MOSQUITO THAT THEY BELIEVE IS
CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING IT AS WELL.
THAT MOSQUITO REACHES A LITTLE BIT FURTHER NORTH ALONG THE EAST
COAST BUT AGAIN NOT INTO MASSACHUSETTS.
SO I DON'T THINK WE HAVE A HUGE RISK HERE FROM SIMPLY BECAUSE
THIS MOSQUITO DOESN'T RESIDE IN OUR AREA.
FROM THIS, YOU KNOW, FROM A MOSQUITO BITING AN INFECTED
PERSON AND SPREADING IT BY BITING ANOTHER PERSON AND
SPREADING THE VIRUS TO THEM.
>> IF SOMEONE, A WOMAN, OR HER PARTNER, BECAUSE THERE IS I
GATHER SOME QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT IT CAN BE TRANSMITTED
THROUGH BODILY FLUIDS, THROUGH SEXUAL CONTACT.
>> CORRECT.
>> HAS BEEN IN THE TROPICS.
THINKS THEY WERE BITTEN BY A MOSQUITO.
THERE'S A LOT OF QUALIFICATIONS HERE BUT WHAT SORT OF CONCERNS
SHOULD THEY HAVE IN TERMS OF SYMPTOMS TO WATCH FOR?
OR THINGS TO LOOK FOR JUST IN THEIR HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR,
PERHAPS?
>> WELL, THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE CONCERNING FOR ZIKA INFECTION
INCLUDE FEVER, JOINT PAIN, RED EYES OR CONJUNCTIVITIS, A RASH
IS ACTUALLY QUITE COMMON.
BUT ONLY ABOUT ONE IN FIVE WOMEN OR ONE IN FIVE INDIVIDUALS WHO
ARE INFECTED ACTUALLY HAVE ANY TYPES OF SYMPTOMS.
SO AS A HIGH-RISK PREGNANCY DOC, MY CONCERN IS FOR PATIENTS WHO
ARE PREGNANT WITH A HISTORY OF TRAVEL.
THE CDC RECENTLY REVISED THEIR GUIDELINES.
ORIGINALLY THEY STATED IF YOU HAD A HISTORY OF TRAVEL TO ONE
OF THESE HIGH-RISK AREAS AND THESE SYMPTOMS, AND YOU
EXPERIENCED THESE SYMPTOMS, EITHER WHILE YOU WERE ABROAD OR
WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF RETURN, YOU ARE A CANDIDATE FOR TESTING.
AND THEY HAVE NOW CHANGED IT TO ANYONE WITH JUST A HISTORY OF
TRAVEL WHO IS PREGNANT, TRAVEL TO A HIGH-RISK AREA IS A
CANDIDATE FOR TESTING.
SO THEY HAVE KIND OF LOOSENED THE CRITERIA FOR TESTING.
>> FAIR TO SAY FROM WHERE YOU SIT, GRANTED EVERY PATIENT'S
CASE IS UNIQUE, BUT YOU WOULD ADVISE SOMEONE, BE CAISHFUL,
KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DEALING WITH, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING
BUT DON'T PANIC?
>> WELL, I CERTAINLY, PANICKING IS NEVER HELPFUL, I THINK, IN
ANY SITUATION.
MY ADVICE TO PREGNANT WOMEN OR WOMEN TRYING TO BECOME PREGNANT
TO NOT GO TO ANY OF THESE AREAS.
YOU KNOW, THEN, MORE RECENT RECOMMENDATION IS FOR THE MALE
PARTNERS OF THESE WOMEN, IF THEY HAVE TRAVELED, T THEY SHOULD BE
USING A CONDOM BECAUSE IT'S BELIEVED THAT THE VIRUS CAN BE
PRESENT IN SEMEN FOR LONGER THAN IT IS IN THE INDIVIDUAL'S BLOOD.
AND THERE IS A DOCUMENTED CASE OF SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF THE
ZIKA VIRUS.
SO THAT IS AN AREA OF CONCERN.
>> DR.
ANDREW HEALY, THANKS FOR COMING I THINK AND GIVING US
SOME PERSPECTIVE ON THE INVOICING VIRUS.
APPRECIATE YOUR TIME.
>> MY PLEASURE.