No detection of Zika virus infection in asymptomatic Dutch military personnel after deployment in high endemic areas (Belize, Curacao, Saint Martin) from December 2016 to December 2017

Dear Editor, at the start of the Zika outbreak we reported on imported infections in Dutch travellers [1]. Since late 2015, a large outbreak of Zika virus disease has spread across South and Central America. Concurrently, strong evidence has emerged that the virus, which usually only causes mild disease in adults, is the cause of various degrees of fetal developmental disorders, which was dramatically illustrated by an unusual number of microcephaly cases among newborns in Brazil. An important and unanswered question to date is the actual risk of sexual transmission from (symptomatic or asymptomatic) males returning from Zika virus (ZIKV) endemic areas, to females outside these areas with the potential risk of Zika virus infection (ZVI) in pregnant women.
Source: Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research