COCA Email Updates: January 17 - January 30

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Available for download: January 30, 2017, COCA Email UpdateCdc-pdf


COCA News and Announcements

Upcoming COCA Calls:

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Archived COCA Conference Calls

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CDC Emergency Response

2016 Zika Virus

General Resources
NEW: Grand Rounds Presentation—Zika Virus: A Primer for NursesCdc-pdf
CDC developed slides and a facilitation guide about Zika virus for nurses that can be used for grand rounds and other presentations. This presentation covers the following topics:

  • Epidemiology, clinical manifestation, and clinical presentation of Zika
  • CDC guidance on pregnancy planning and contraception
  • CDC guidance on diagnosing and testing for Zika
  • Protecting pregnant women, infants, and children from Zika
  • Preventing transmission of Zika virus in healthcare settings
  • CDC activities

Zika Virus Information for Healthcare Providers

Key Messages – Zika VirusCdc-pdf
A collection of the most up-to-date and cleared information on the ongoing Zika virus outbreak.

Print Resources in Different Languages
CDC fact sheets and posters for distribution to patients are available in languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Creole, and Korean. These resources cover a variety of topics, including travel information, insect repellent, sexual transmission, and mosquito control.

Clinicians Caring for Pregnant Women and Women of Reproductive Age 

NEW: Grand Rounds Presentation—Zika Virus and PregnancyCdc-pdf
CDC developed slides and a facilitation guide about Zika virus for obstetric healthcare providers that can be used for grand rounds and other presentations. This presentation covers the following topics:

  • Epidemiology, clinical manifestation, and clinical management of Zika
  • CDC interim guidance on diagnosing and testing for Zika
  • Protecting pregnant women from Zika
  • Preventing transmission of Zika virus in labor and delivery settings
  • CDC activities

Pregnancy and Zika Testing
The interactive clinical algorithm allows healthcare providers to receive recommendations tailored to their pregnant patients with possible Zika exposure. Healthcare providers can answer questions about pregnant patients and, based on the responses, receive information regarding the type of testing indicated as well as clinical management recommendations. It can be used on computers and mobile devices/tablets.

U.S. Zika Pregnancy Registry
CDC and state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments request that healthcare providers, especially obstetric and pediatric healthcare providers, participate in the US Zika Pregnancy Registry.

Clinical Guidance for Healthcare Providers Caring for Pregnant Women

Clinical Guidance for Healthcare Providers Caring for Women of Reproductive Age

Clinicians Caring for Infants and Children

NEW: Grand Rounds Presentation—Zika and Infants: A PrimerCdc-pdf
CDC developed slides and a facilitation guide about Zika virus for pediatricians that can be used for grand rounds and other presentations. This presentation covers the following topics:

  • Epidemiology, clinical manifestation, and clinical management of Zika
  • CDC guidance on diagnosing and testing for Zika
  • CDC guidance on treatment of infants with abnormalities consistent with congenital Zika syndrome
  • Protecting infants and children from Zika
  • CDC activities

Measuring Infant Head Circumference: An Instructional Video for Healthcare Providers in English and Spanish
CDC is working to ensure that infants with microcephaly and other brain abnormalities receive the services they need. Accurately identifying infants with microcephaly is crucial. The goal of this instructional video is to provide clinicians with the tools needed to accurately measure infant head circumference and length.
In English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWV1JdAhsSo
En Español: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPBxXkIIjt0

Clinical Guidance for Healthcare Providers Caring for Infants & Children

Sexual Transmission

Zika and Sexual Transmission

Travel Information

Advice For People Living In or Traveling to Brownsville, Texas
On December 14, 2016, CDC issued guidance related to Zika for people living in or traveling to Brownsville, Cameron County, TX and has designated Brownsville as a Zika cautionary area (yellow area).. On November 28, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported the state’s first case of local mosquito-borne Zika virus infection in Brownsville. Additional cases of mosquito-borne Zika have been identified in the area, suggesting that there is a risk of continued spread of Zika virus in Brownsville.

Zika Travel Information

Advice for People Living in or Traveling to South Florida
On December 9, 2016, CDC removed the red area designation for the remaining 1.5-square-mile area of South Miami Beach after three mosquito incubation periods (45 days) passed without any new locally transmitted cases of Zika. Guidance for yellow areas now applies to the South Miami Beach area and all of Miami-Dade County.

Clinical Evaluation and Testing

Guidance for U.S. Laboratories Testing for Zika Virus Infection 
The guidance was updated to be inclusive of the currently available Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) assays; it takes into account the recent updates to the CDC Trioplex Real-time RT-PCR Assay EUA, which includes the addition of whole blood as an acceptable specimen type. The updated guidance also specifies that plaque reduction neutralization testing (PRNT) confirmation is currently not routinely recommended in Puerto Rico, where dengue is endemic.

Clinical Evaluation & Disease
Zika virus is transmitted to humans primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. Most people infected with Zika virus are asymptomatic. Characteristic clinical findings are acute onset of fever with maculopapular rash, arthralgia, or conjunctivitis. Other commonly reported symptoms include myalgia and headache.

Testing for Zika Virus
Contact your state or local health department to facilitate testing.

State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Health Department Resources

State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Health Department Resources

Interim CDC Zika Response PlanCdc-pdf
The purpose of this document is to describe the CDC response plan for the first locally acquired cases of Zika virus infection in the continental United States and Hawaii.

Zika Community Action Response Toolkit (Z-CART)
The Z-CART outlines an approach to risk communication and community engagement planning and is intended as a template for state, local, and tribal agencies to adapt to their needs and to use for reviewing plans for communicating about Zika during the event of a locally transmitted Zika virus.

CDC News and Announcements

NEW: Tune in to Safe Healthcare Webinar: Reducing Infection in the Outpatient Dialysis Facility—Results of the Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End Stage Renal Disease (SCOPE) Collaborative Date: January 31, 2017 3:00-4:00 PM EST 
This presentation will include a discussion of results of the Standardizing Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End stage renal disease (SCOPE) Collaborative, which is a Quality Transformation Network for dialysis centers serving children aiming to:

  • Improve patient outcomes
  • Support collaborating pediatric nephrology centers
  • Enable physicians to meet the ABP Part IV MOC requirements
  • Generate new knowledge and evidence-based clinical practices in the pediatric nephrology population

CDC Science Clips: Volume 9, Issue: 3

Each week select science clips are shared with the public health community to enhance awareness of emerging scientific knowledge. The focus is applied public health research and prevention science that has the capacity to improve health now.

Public Health Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness and Response – (CDC)
Find preparedness resources for all hazards.

Emergency Preparedness and Response Training Resources for Clinicians – (CDC)
Find online and in-person training resources.

Natural Disasters and Severe Weather

Winter Weather – (CDC)

Food and Water Needs: Preparing for a Disaster or Emergency – (CDC)

Health and Safety Concerns for All Disasters – (CDC)

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)

MMWR publications are prepared by CDC. To electronically subscribe, go to
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwrsubscribe.html

January 13, 2017 / Vol. 66/No. 1 Download .pdf document of this issueCdc-pdf

Infectious, Vector-Borne, and Zoonotic Diseases

NEW: Official CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory—Investigation of Seoul Virus Outbreak Associated with Home-based, Rat-breeding Facilities in Wisconsin and Illinois
CDC and health officials from Wisconsin and Illinois are conducting an investigation of Seoul virus infections among pet rats and persons exposed to rats at rat-breeding facilities in Wisconsin and Illinois. Seoul virus is a member of the hantavirus group of rodent-borne viruses. People who become infected with this virus often exhibit relatively mild or no symptoms, but some will develop a form of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) with death in approximately 1–2% of HFRS cases. Although serologic studies have indicated the presence of Seoul virus in wild rats in the United States, this is the first known outbreak associated with pet rats in the United States.

Seasonal Influenza

Weekly Flu View – December 31 – (CDC)
Flu View is a weekly influenza surveillance report prepared by CDC Influenza Division. All data are preliminary and may change as CDC receives more reports.

Information for Health Professionals– (CDC)

2016–2017 Flu Season – (CDC)

Travel Safety

Current Travel WarningsExternal – January 13 (US Department of State)
The U.S. Department of State issues Travel Warnings when long-term, protracted conditions make a country dangerous or unstable. Travel Warnings recommend that Americans avoid or carefully consider the risk of travel to that country. The State Department also issues Travel Warnings when the U.S. Government’s ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate, or because of a drawdown of State Department staff.

Food, Drug and Device Safety

MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting ProgramExternal – (FDA)
MedWatch is your Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gateway for clinically important safety information and reporting serious problems with human medical products.

FoodSafety.gov: Reports of FDA and USDA Food Recalls, Alerts, Reporting, and ResourcesExternal – (HHS/USDA/FDA/CDC/NIH)
Foodsafety.gov lists notices of recalls and alerts from both FDA and USDA. Visitors to the site can report a problem or make inquiries.

The CDC and HHS logos are the exclusive property of the Department of Health and Human Services and may not be used for any purpose without prior express written permission. Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organizations.

Page last reviewed: January 30, 2017 (archived document)