Assessing Real-Time Zika Risk in the United States

Article

Confirmed local transmission of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Texas and Florida have heightened the need for early and accurate indicators of self-sustaining transmission in high risk areas across the southern United States. Given ZIKV’s low reporting rates and the geographic variability in suitable conditions, a cluster of reported cases may reflect diverse scenarios, ranging from independent introductions to a self-sustaining local epidemic. Castro, et al. (2017) present a quantitative framework for real-time ZIKV risk assessment that captures uncertainty in case reporting, importations, and vector-human transmission dynamics.

The researchers assessed county-level risk throughout Texas, as of summer 2016, and found that importation risk was concentrated in large metropolitan regions, while sustained ZIKV transmission risk is concentrated in the southeastern counties including the Houston metropolitan region and the Texas-Mexico border (where the sole autochthonous cases have occurred in 2016). They found that counties most likely to detect cases are not necessarily the most likely to experience epidemics, and used our framework to identify triggers to signal the start of an epidemic based on a policymakers propensity for risk.

The study's authors conclude that this framework can inform the strategic timing and spatial allocation of public health resources to combat ZIKV throughout the U.S., and highlights the need to develop methods to obtain reliable estimates of key epidemiological parameters.

Reference: Castro LA, Fox SJ, et al. Assessing real-time Zika risk in the United States. BMC Infectious Diseases. 2017;17:284

Recent Videos
Meet the Infection Control Today Editorial Advisory Board Members: Priya Pandya-Orozco, DNP, MSN, RN, PHN, CIC.
Meet Infection Control Today's Editorial Board Member: Tommy Davis, PhD, ACHE, APIC, BLS
Fungal Disease Awareness Week
Meet Shannon Simmons, DHSc, MPH, CIC.
Meet Matthew Pullen, MD.
Clostridioides difficile  (Adobe Stock 260659307 by gaetan)
David Levine, PhD, DPT, MPH, FAPTA
Weekly Rounds with Infection Control Today
DEBORAH BIRX, MD, is a retired Army Colonel and Global Ambassador to 3 US presidents, Birx has over 40 years of experience fighting global pandemics. Her research and work have been credited with saving over 22 million lives in Africa through the PEPFAR program, and she has authored over 200 academic publications.
Related Content