OB-GYNs don't feel confident in their or their hospitals' ability to treat Zika virus in the face of the mosquito-borne illness' rapid spread, according to a mircrosuvey conducted by InCrowd.
InCrowd's mobile microsurvey captured responses from 70 United States-based OB-GYNs who each had a minimum of 20 expectant patients.
Roughly half (49 percent) of the surveyed physicians said they do not feel prepared to treat a patient who may have contracted Zika virus. Additionally, just 34 percent of the surveyed physicians said their hospital has a Zika virus protocol. The existing protocols involve modified questionnaires to ask pregnant women about recent travel, getting blood from the patient for testing and reference to CDC guidelines.
"U.S. doctors and patients are certainly monitoring the Zika virus, but not overreacting to it, according to our new data," said Diane Hayes, PhD, president and co-founder of InCrowd and an epidemiologist.