A growing number of patients at major Boston-area hospitals, such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are worried about the virus’ potential impact on their fetuses.
“There has been a huge uptick in consultations and ultrasound visits for Zika virus exposure and counseling of patients who are contemplating travel to Zika-endemic areas,” Steve Ralston, MD, director of the division of maternal-fetal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told the Herald. “It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to counsel patients and infrastructure.”
MGH is potentially dealing with a small pool of patients who have been exposed to Zika, Jeffrey Lawrence Ecker, MD, department chief of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital, told the Herald. A Brigham and Women’s spokesperson also told the Herald the hospital is on the lookout and testing patients who may be infected.
There have been 11 cases of travel-associated Zika virus in Massachusetts thus far, according to the CDC.
More articles on Zika:
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