Children’s National expert joins a national discussion on Zika and other emerging threats

An expert roundtable discussion, “Facing the Zika Crisis and Other Emerging Threats,” organized in collaboration with Purdue University, the Gallup Organization and the Bipartisan Policy Center, was recently held at the U.S. Capitol. Chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Co-Director of the Congenital Zika Program at Children’s National Health System, Roberta DeBiasi, M.D.,M.S., weighed in on the discussion, sharing knowledge on the challenges to the United States health system and the continuous research and work that the Children’s National Congenital Zika program does.

Eighteen months ago, Children’s National received its first referral for a Washington, D.C. woman who had a Zika infected pregnancy in January 2016. This case prompted the development of the Congenital Zika program to serve as a consultation resource for affected women and infants, and to perform research to address the knowledge gaps concerning Zika infection during pregnancy: Young researchers tackle Zika’s unanswered questions.

“Our goal is to provide the earliest and most accurate information to women affected by Zika exposure and infection during pregnancy, including capability for fetal MRI,” says Dr. DeBiasi.

Since then, the Zika team has evaluated 65 mother-fetus/infant pairs. Researchers are actively learning the best methods for detection of infection and neurologic injury by continually conducting research and obtaining new and useful information that can be shared with others. The research mission of the Congenital Zika program is now focusing on several areas, which include the study of biomarkers to predict if the infant could be affected by the disease, the utility of a fetal MRI in conjunction with ultrasound, genetic risk factors in mothers and infants that might explain why some infants become infected and some do not, long term neurodevelopment of babies that are infected, and neuropathologic evaluations of brains from fetuses that have died from Zika.

The challenges and concerns that were presented for the United States health system include the willingness and ability to share information, the acceptance of the need for data sharing between institutions and determining if testing resources are adequate and appropriate.

Dr. DeBiasi says, “Institutions have become much better at looking at how to prepare for emerging infectious diseases on a broader level.” Proactively thinking, Dr. DeBiasi finds it useful for health systems to use their own task forces, such as the Ebola Response Task force at Children’s National, as a cohesive existing team that will be prepared for additional infectious disease threats that may arise.