Zika virus – Incidence and trends
To date, 48 countries and territories in the Americas have confirmed autochthonous, vectorborne transmission of Zika virus disease since 2015. In addition, five countries in the Americas have reported sexually transmitted Zika cases.
Since the last Zika Epidemiological Update of 3 November 2016, Montserrat has confirmed vector-borne autochthonous transmission of Zika virus in the Americas
Highlighted below is a summary of the epidemiological situation by sub-regions of the Americas.
North America
In Mexico, since the beginning of the outbreak up to epidemiological week (EW) 39 of 2016 there continues to be an upward trend in cases.
In the United States of America, cases autochthonous cases continue to be detected in Florida in the area of Miami Beach and in the county of Miami-Dade.
Central America
In Central America, Panama continues to report an increasing trend in cases between EW 36 and EW 41 of 2016. In the other countries of Central America, the trend continues to decrease.
Caribbean
Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory, is the most recent territory to have detected autochthonous circulation of Zika virus.
In the islands of Turks and Caicos an increasing trend of cases occurred b etween EW 36 and EW 38 of 2016. At the same time, other countries/territories in the Caribbean are showing a declining trend of Zika cases.
South America
The Peru Ministry of Health reported that as of EW 21 of 2016, an outbreak with an increasing trend has been occurring in the city of Iquitos. Iquitos is the only city in which cases continue to be detected in Peru in the last thirteen weeks.
All the other countries in South America continue to report decreasing numbers of Zika cases. This week the Brazil Ministry of Health reported results of a study conducted in the country between EW 1 and EW 32 of 2016 using data from the national Information System of Events Notification (Sinam-NET, per the acronym in Portuguese). According to the study, the highest number of cases was registered between EW 7 and EW 9 of 2016, with the Center-West (270 out of 100,000 population) and the Northeast (172 out of 100,000 population) reporting the highest incidence rates.
