• CDC Updated interim guidance
  • Current testing guidance (updated November 2019)
  • Vital Signs: Zika Associated Birth Defects and Neurodevelopmental Abnormalities Possibly Associated with Congenital Zika Virus Infection — U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States, August 2018
  • MMWR: Interim Guidance for Preconception Counseling and Prevention of Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus for Men with Possible Zika Virus Exposure — United States, August 2018
• CDPH Zika Delivery Checklist
  • Infant evaluation, testing and tissue specimen collection at the time of birth in the event of maternal Zika exposure
• Areas with risk of Zika
  • Information for travelers to international desitinations and US territories

Resources for Discussing Zika with Patients

• Preconception counseling for patients before and after travel to active Zika transmission areas
• Guidance on preventing sexual transmission of Zika
• Zika basics and prevention guidance

Testing for Zika virus is no longer available at Public Health Laboratories due to a decline in Zika cases in the Americas 30-70 fold since 2016. Providers should utilize commerical laboratories for Zika testing.  The following persons should be tested for Zika based on current CDC guidelines: 

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus transmitted primarily by Aedes aegyti mosquitoes.  Aedes aegyti mosquitoes are not endemic to Illinois.

Zika virus infection should be considered in patients with acute onset of fever, maculopapular rash, arthralgia or conjunctivitis, who traveled to areas with active transmission in the two weeks prior to illness onset.  The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon.  

Zika infection during pregnancy can cause a birth defect of the brain called microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects. Other problems have been detected among fetuses and infants infected with Zika virus before birth, such as defects of the eye, hearing deficits, and impaired growth. There have also been increased reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an uncommon sickness of the nervous system, in areas affected by Zika.

Because of possible associations with poor pregnancy outcomes, the CDC recommends that pregnant women in any trimester and women trying to become pregnant consider postponing travel to areas with active Zika transmission.

There is no vaccine to prevent Zika. The best way to prevent diseases spread by mosquitoes is to protect yourself and your family from mosquito bites.