Texas Children's Pavilion for Women in Houston announced the launch of the state's first Zika clinic to provide at-risk pregnant women with pregnancy monitoring and up-to-date Zika testing.
The clinic will operate on Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon and will be staffed by the hospital's maternal-fetal medicine experts. The clinic will serve women who have shown symptoms of the virus, traveled to nations with active local Zika transmission or had sexual partners who have displayed symptoms of the virus or traveled to countries experiencing local transmission.
"It's crucial we have a Zika clinic at the Pavilion for Women for our patients and community," said Kjersti Aagaard, MD, PhD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and vice chair of research in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Texas Children's and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "In an emerging disease, where new evidence arises daily, having a dedicated group of providers who can keep up with large amounts of crucial information, understand what testing to perform, and discern clinically important information and how to readily apply it is critically important."
The CDC is currently monitoring 400 pregnant women in the U.S. who have exhibited laboratory evidence of the Zika virus.
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