|Videos|September 27, 2016

Does Vertical Zika Transmission Occur With All Infected Pregnant Women?

Pedro Fernando da Costa Vasconcelos, MD, PhD, director of WHO Collaborating Center for Arbovirus and Research, Evandro Chagas Institute, discusses whether or not all Zika-infected pregnant women will infect their fetuses.

Pedro Fernando da Costa Vasconcelos, MD, PhD, director of WHO Collaborating Center for Arbovirus and Research, Evandro Chagas Institute, discusses whether or not all Zika-infected pregnant women will infect their fetuses.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“I’m not sure that all [pregnant women] infected will transmit the [Zika] virus to [the] baby. I think this will depend not on the range of infection, but on some contribution from the immune system. Perhaps it’s partially driven by a gene— so maybe it is genetically driven.”


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