Characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes related to Zika virus infection during pregnancy in Northeastern Thailand: A prospective pregnancy cohort study, 2018-2020.

BACKGROUND: In response to the 2015-2016 Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak and the causal relationship established between maternal ZIKV infection and adverse infant outcomes, we conducted a cohort study to estimate the incidence of ZIKV infection in pregnancy and assess its impacts in women and infants. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From May 2018-January 2020, we prospectively followed pregnant women recruited from 134 participating hospitals in two non-adjacent provinces in northeastern Thailand. We collected demographic, clinical, and epidemiologic data and blood and urine at routine antenatal care visits until delivery. ZIKV infections were confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR). Specimens with confirmed ZIKV underwent whole genome sequencing. Among 3,312 women enrolled, 12 (0.36%) had ZIKV infections, of which two (17%) were detected at enrollment. Ten (83%, 3 in 2nd and 7 in 3rd trimester) ZIKV infections were detected during study follow-up, resulting in an infection rate of 0.15 per 1,000 person-weeks (95% CI: 0.07-0.28). The majority (11/12, 91.7%) of infections occurred in one province. Persistent ZIKV viremia (42 days) was found in only one woman. Six women with confirmed ZIKV infections were asymptomatic until delivery. Sequencing of 8 ZIKV isolates revealed all were of Asian lineage. All 12 ZIKV infected women gave birth to live, full-term infants; the only observed adverse birth outcome was low birth weight in one (8%) infant. Pregnancies in 3,300 ZIKV-rRT-PCR-negative women were complicated by 101 (3%) fetal deaths, of which 67 (66%) had miscarriages and 34 (34%) had stillbirths. There were no differences between adverse fetal or birth outcomes of live infants born to ZIKV-rRT-PCR-positive mothers compared to live infants born to ZIKV-rRT-PCR-negative mothers. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Confirmed ZIKV infections occurred infrequently in this large pregnancy cohort and observed adverse maternal and birth outcomes did not differ between mothers with and without confirmed infections.

An Outbreak of Peripheral Neuropathy in a Prison.

Prisoners are at risk for both physical and psychological diseases. Here, we report an outbreak of peripheral neuropathy in a prison in northeast Thailand. Between July and December 2014, there were 88 male prisoners at Bueng Kan Provincial Prison in Bueng Kan, Thailand suffering from peripheral neuropathy out of a total of 1,464 prisoners (6.01%). The common age range was 20-39 years (58 patients; 65.91%). The three most common features were hyporeflexia/areflexia of the lower extremities (36 patients; 83.72%). On laboratory vitamin B1 deficiency was detected in 4/5 patients, positive rhinovirus polymerase chain reaction in 3/4 patients, positive Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM in 1/12 patients, and positive urinary arsenic in 4/7 patients. A dT vaccination was given on October 14 during the outbreak. This was a large outbreak of peripheral neuropathy in male prisoners. There are several possible causes of this outbreak including vitamin B1 deficiency, dT vaccination, arsenic toxicity, rhinovirus, and Mycoplasma infection.