Key Updates
Countries and territories reporting mosquito-borne Zika virus infections for the first time in the past week:
o None
Malaysia, which previously reported Zika infections in 2014, has reported new mosquito-borne Zika virus infections in the past week
Countries and territories reporting microcephaly and other central nervous system (CNS) malformations potentially associated with Zika virus infection for the first time in the past week:
o None
Countries and territories reporting Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) cases associated with Zika virus infection for the first time in the past week:
o None
The Netherlands reported evidence of person-to-person transmission of Zika virus (probably via a sexual route) for the first time in the past week.
Operational updates from the WHO Regional Office for the Americas:
o WHO convened a workshop in Barbados on clinical management of neurological complications.
o A technical mission to Brazil by WHO/PAHO for laboratory assessment and strengthening of Zika diagnostic capacity of State laboratories was completed in August.
o WHO facilitated two meetings in Panama for updating the strategic plan for vector surveillance and control.
o WHO/PAHO carried out missions to Colombia and El Salvador to organize and help launch “Mosquito Awareness Week”.
o In Haiti, WHO and the Ministry of Public Health and Population’s Division of Epidemiology, Laboratory and Research (DELR) held three train-the-trainer workshops on epidemiological surveillance of Zika and its complications in August.
The results from the sequencing analysis of Zika virus cases in Singapore indicate that the virus belongs to the Asian lineage and likely evolved from the strain that was previously circulating in Southeast Asia. The recent cases in Singapore do not appear to be the result of imported virus from South America.