Overseas doctors are worried about an increase in the number of miscarriages, which could be linked to the Zika virus.
In an interview with Release on her return from the overseas departments, Marisol Touraine reported on the mobilization of health professionals to deal with the Zika epidemic. Despite a response that she considers appropriate, Guyanese doctors are worried about an increase in the number of miscarriages.
“Several of the doctors I met told me that they had noticed a higher number of miscarriages,” she told the daily. They are worried about it, but they cannot establish a link, it is in any case a new point. “
Two miscarriages in infected women
In Guyana, thirteen pregnant women are believed to be infected with the virus. Last Saturday, the chief doctor of the maternity department of the West Guyanese hospital center (CHOG), Gabriel Carles, had announced to the Minister of Health that “two miscarriages had been recorded”, leading him to wonder if Zika couldn’t favor them.
Pregnant women affected will therefore have access to an ultrasound every month. “New ultrasound machines will be brought in if necessary, but it is also in terms of personnel that we will be vigilant. », Assured the minister.
Surveillance of Guillain-Barré cases
In its last epidemiological update on Zika stopped on February 25, 58 cases had been identified in St Martin, 389 in Guadeloupe, 1030 in Guyana and 7600 in Martinique. But Marisol Touraine reports “a sort of wait-and-see attitude on the part of the general population, accustomed to epidemics: she has experienced chikungunya, then dengue, and she finds that Zika, in most cases, is less disabling. “
Concern is mounting, however, about the multiplication of the number of cases of Guillain-Barré syndromes: ” [Les équipes médicales] extrapolated the possible number of people affected. We are talking about twenty possible cases in Martinique. Some teams therefore expect difficult situations in the intensive care units ”
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