NCRHA: Pregnant women not currently tested for Zika

North Central Regional Health Authority CEO Davlin Thomas said he was advised that testing for the Zika virus is not carried out on pregnant people unless they are symptomatic. He said ultrasounds are routinely carried out during the pre-natal period.

Thomas spoke to Newsday on Monday following a consultation with the NCRHA’s medical chief of staff.

He said blood testing for pregnant people is carried out according to the world standard for testing, and since the incidence of the Zika virus is very low, it was not part of the tests carried out.

With respect to the ultrasounds, he said “They do ultrasounds as part of the general testing, all pregnant women do it, according to the Medical Chief of Staff.

"You check the parameters, based on a non-invasive standard. You do the checks that are possible in terms of the physical ultrasound to see if there was microcephaly, they would do that for all pregnant women. There are obvious signs of microcephaly.”

Thomas said, to his knowledge, once signs of microcephaly were discovered, there was social-worker intervention.

In 2016, when the Zika epidemic was at its height, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said all pregnant women were being tested for Zika through a blood sample analysed by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).

Speaking in Parliament on September 9, 2016, Deyalsingh said once cases were confirmed, they were managed following protocols set up in April 2016 which were developed by collaboration between the University of the West Indies, PAHO and the Ministry of Health.

Deyalsingh said a central registry had been set up at the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital.

“Following confirmation, the information is sent to the National Surveillance Unit, the county medical officer of health for the particular county and the Chief Medical Officer. Counselling is then offered.

To date, we have distributed 13,537 bed nets to all pregnant women. All pregnant women who are tested positive are then counselled again, referred to the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital where a series of ultrasounds are done, serial ultrasounds, based on the protocols set up.

“They are then referred to the foetal medicine services unit at Mount Hope under the guidance of Dr Karen Sohan. And those ultrasound results are also sent to PAHO and CDC for peer review and antenatal monitoring and screening.”

Deyalsingh also said grants would be given to babies with microcephaly caused by the Zika virus. Attempts to contact the Social Development and Family Services Minister via WhatsApp and phone call were unsuccessful.

In a recent judgment in a case brought by the mother of a child with microcephaly, High Court Judge Justice Joan Charles ruled that the government immediately take steps to provide urgent, appropriate and specialised healthcare for the baby who was born in 2017.