Not Your Average (Flavi)Virus: Clinical and Epidemiologic Investigations of Zika Virus in Puerto Rico

LCID - Wednesday Research Conference Following the introduction of Zika virus into Puerto Rico in late 2015,>38,000 laboratory-positive cases have been reported to public health authorities to date. Due to unexpected routes of transmission and severe clinical complications associated with Zika virus infection, research studies in Puerto Rico have included: conducting facility-based enhanced surveillance to better define the spectrum of Zika virus disease and associated complications; establishing a prospective cohort of infected individuals to estimate the duration of Zika virus shedding in various body fluids; and case-control study to assess Zika virus infection as a risk factor for developing Guillain-Barre syndrome. Lieutenant Commander Tyler M. Sharp, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dengue Branch in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He completed his doctorate in Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College in Medicine in the laboratory of Dr. Mary K. Estes where he studied the molecular mechanisms of norovirus pathogenesis. He joined CDC in 2010 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer stationed at CDC Dengue Branch, where he has been the Acting Epidemiology Team Lead since 2014. His current public health and research interests are the epidemiology and pathophysiology of emerging infectious diseases, including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses, leptospirosis, and melioidosis.Air date: 2/8/2017 8:30:00 AM
Source: Videocast - All Events - Category: Journals (General) Tags: Upcoming Events Source Type: video