Five cases of acute Zika virus infection in French women of reproductive age returning from Central and South America.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The favorable season for Aedes albopictus circulation has started in Europe and may lead to autochthonous transmission of Zika virus. Health care providers should be familiar with evocative clinical presentations and able to give updated information to women of reproductive age infected by Zika virus. OBSERVATIONS We report five laboratory-confirmed Zika virus infections imported to metropolitan France from Central and South America between January and April, 2016. The five young women were not connected and not pregnant; common presentation combined a rash with persistent arthralgia. Zika virus was identified by RT-PCR from serum or urines, between two and eight days after the onset of the symptoms. CONCLUSION: As the duration of potential materno-foetal infectivity is still unknown, we were unable to answer with certitude to the patients' questions about the time interval to respect before attempting a pregnancy one of them became pregnant one month after the diagnosis.