As the World Health Organization is raising the level of alert about the Zika virus, B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCDC) says testing for pregnant women is readily available, but the reliability of the procedure should be taken into consideration.
Dr. Mel Krajden with the BCDC says there is a lot of complexity involved when it comes to testing for the Zika virus.
Krajden says their public health laboratories are able to diagnose acute infections, but this kind of testing is only valuable within the first five to ten days of symptom onset, because typically the virus can only be found in blood or other body fluids for a very short period of time.
The challenge, Krajden says, is that 80 per cent of people will have no symptoms.
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But when it comes to individuals who present no symptoms, Krajden says there is a real quandary in the medical community about what is the best course of action is.
Krajden says there has been a lot of fear surrounding concerns the virus can lead to a rare condition known as microcephaly, in which babies are born with irregularly small heads and underdeveloped brains.
There are several tests available for women who are pregnant and are concerned about exposure to Zika, explains Krajden. The virus can be detected using nucleic acids testing that detects viral genetic material or serology, a test that looks for the immune response to the infection or antibodies.
Krajden says there is also a recommendation for pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound.
He says while they are willing to perform serology tests, the real challenge is that the currently available tests are still in development.
“We don’t know how well they perform in being able to say definitively that this person is not infected,” says Krajden. “So they can be reassuring, but we really don’t have enough information to fully say, you have not been infected and therefore you should not be worried at all.”
Even then, he says, there is currently a backlog for serology testing and it could take weeks to get the results back.
Another challenge for physicians according to Krajden, is that the link between microcephaly in children in Brazil and the Zika virus has not been established with complete certainty.
“So there is a lot of hype and it is increasing the anxiety that a woman would have,” adds Krajden.
He wants to see sufficient support and proper guidance for pregnant woman in B.C.
“We are quite willing to provide every test conceivable,” says Krajden. “But the piece that’s most important is honest, transparent communication about what the real risks are.”
On Tuesday, it was reported a pregnant Ontario woman who travelled to Brazil late last year has been refused testing for the Zika virus and may consider abortion.
“For someone to think about aborting a child just because they had Zika virus is a very difficult decision,” says Krajden. “And I think that the woman and the spouse or partner need to be fully informed about what the risks are. Because the test performance is not totally understood, you have to take the value of this test in the context of the person’s risk.”
Krajden says they have already reached out to physicians around the province on how to deal with concerned patients, and they are working on another set of instructions to provide better support for the physicians.
READ MORE: What pregnant women need to know about Zika virus and travel
Health authorities maintain the risk of the Zika virus to Canadians is low, as mosquitoes known to transmit the virus are not established in Canada and are not well-suited to our climate.
Current evidence suggests that Zika virus is likely to persist and spread in the Americas and the South Pacific. Although the risk of virus establishment in Canada is low, there is ongoing risk to Canadians travelling to endemic regions.
Public Health Canada recommends that pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant discuss their travel plans with their health care provider to assess their risk and consider postponing travel to areas where the Zika virus is circulating in the Americas. If travel cannot be postponed, then strict mosquito bite prevention measures should be followed to protect themselves against bites.
There is no vaccine or medication that protects against Zika virus infection.
Read more about safety precautions here.
READ MORE: Should Canadians worry about Zika virus?
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