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Zika Virus in Pregnancy

Contributor: Shelley Chapman, MD
Last Update: 5/10/2016   

Women who are at risk for Zika infection should be offered testing. Please refer to the following websites for updated national guidelines www.acog.org/zika or www.cdc.gov/zika.

Our GHS contact is: Jenny Meredith, Ph.D. Clinical Microbiology Director, Greenville Health System University Medical Center, 701 Grove Rd., Greenville, SC 29605. Phone- 864-455-8768

If you have a patient that you think needs testing, call DHEC Epidemiology Dept:
Greenville DHEC numbers: 864-372-3133 (day), 866-298-4442 (night)
Central SC DHEC: 803-898-0861(day), 1-888-847-0902 (night)

Testing is done with PCR for the virus which will only be positive during the first week after infection when the patient is viremic.  More remote exposures can be tested with IgM serology. No IgG test is currently available.  There is a lot of potential for cross-reactivity, especially in patients who have been vaccinated for Yellow Fever, so it is important to get that vaccine history.  

The current testing also includes a panel for Dengue and Chikungunya as well.  Just realize you will get results back for all three. 
The specimen for Zika testing at DHEC is serum (at least 0.5 ml).  There are two ways this can be collected for submission:

  1. Collect a red-top tube of blood, spin, and remove the serum – placing it into a clean tube.
  2. Collect a yellow-top tube of blood, spin, and leave the serum on the gel barrier.​

Patients with positive serology should be referred to MFM for targeted scan and serial growth scans. Patients with a suspicious history and negative serology can also be seen for targeted scan by MFM and further recommendations made.

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