Prolonged Zika Viremia During Pregnancy

Our understanding of the natural history of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection remains limited. Recent work has indicated that ZIKV viremia is normally detectable only within the first week after the onset of illness, although viremia previously was reported to last 8 weeks after illness onset in a pregnant patient where the pregnancy was terminated due to evidence of severe abnormalities in fetal brain development.

Now, researchers report on a pregnant Colombian woman living in Spain who developed a maculopapular rash after visiting her home country at 9 weeks' gestation. She was tested for ZIKV and other flaviviruses; reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) testing identified ZIKV viremia, although urine, vaginal, and endocervical samples were negativ…