- Brasil, Patrícia;
- Vasconcelos, Zilton;
- Kerin, Tara;
- Gabaglia, Claudia Raja;
- Ribeiro, Ieda P;
- Bonaldo, Myrna C;
- Damasceno, Luana;
- Pone, Marcos V;
- Pone, Sheila;
- Zin, Andrea;
- Tsui, Irena;
- Adachi, Kristina;
- Pereira, Jose Paulo;
- Gaw, Stephanie L;
- Carvalho, Liege;
- Cunha, Denise C;
- Guida, Leticia;
- Rocha, Mirza;
- Cherry, James D;
- Wang, Lulan;
- Aliyari, Saba;
- Cheng, Genhong;
- Foo, Suan-Sin;
- Chen, Weiqiang;
- Jung, Jae;
- Brickley, Elizabeth;
- Moreira, Maria Elisabeth L;
- Nielsen-Saines, Karin
We report Zika virus (ZIKV) vertical transmission in 130 infants born to PCR+ mothers at the time of the Rio de Janeiro epidemic of 2015-2016. Serum and urine collected from birth through the first year of life were tested by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or IgM Zika MAC-ELISA. Four hundred and seven specimens are evaluated; 161 sera tested by PCR and IgM assays, 85 urines by PCR. Sixty-five percent of children (N = 84) are positive in at least one assay. Of 94 children tested within 3 months of age, 70% are positive. Positivity declines to 33% after 3 months. Five children are PCR+ beyond 200 days of life. Concordance between IgM and PCR results is 52%, sensitivity 65%, specificity 40% (positive PCR results as gold standard). IgM and serum PCR are 61% concordant; serum and urine PCR 55%. Most children (65%) are clinically normal. Equal numbers of children with abnormal findings (29 of 45, 64%) and normal findings (55 of 85, 65%) have positive results, p = 0.98. Earlier maternal trimester of infection is associated with positive results (p = 0.04) but not clinical disease (p = 0.98). ZIKV vertical transmission is frequent but laboratory confirmed infection is not necessarily associated with infant abnormalities.