CCIC Provider Education: "Vector-Borne Disease and Related Vaccine Developments: Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya"
CCIC and the Center for Global Health hosted a timely educational presentation titled "Vector- Borne Disease and Related Vaccine Developments: Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya" on June 22! This event was presented by global experts in the field Edwin Asturias, MD, and David Beckham, MD, who will participate as panelists for Q&A discussion following their update.
The global incidence of dengue virus has increased dramatically in recent decades with 390 million people infected annually according to the US Centers for Disease Control. Large outbreaks are occurring worldwide, including US outbreaks in Florida in 2013 and Hawaii in 2015-2016. At the same time, Chikungunya virus emerged in the Americas for the first time in 2013, and Zika virus in 2015, creating an international public health emergency due to the rapid transmission of disease and the alarming link between Zika and microcephaly. The co-circulation of these diseases poses many challenges to clinicians and public health officials in the detection, management and control of disease.
Objectives of this presentation included:
- Describing the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, management and prevention of Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya
- Summarizing current guidelines for clinicians in managing possible disease exposure in travelers and pregnant women
- Explaining what is known and unknown regarding the relationship between Zika and microcephaly, as well as between Zika and Guillain-Barré Syndrome
- Discussing the progress on vaccine developments and outlook for vaccine introduction into priority populations
About the Presenters:
Edwin J Asturias, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health is the Director of Latin American Projects at the Center for Global Health.
Dr. Asturias graduated as a medical doctor from the San Carlos University in Guatemala in 1989 and was board certified in pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 1995. Trained in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he has been working in the area of vaccine research and policy in Guatemala and the Latin region since 1998. Through the conduction of epidemiological studies and the inquiry into efficacy and safety issues of vaccines against poliomyelitis, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcus and E. coli, the Center for Health Studies under his direction has provided answers to important implementation questions, especially for resource poor countries in Central and Latin America.
Dr. Asturias has served on the Guatemalan National Committee for Immunization Practices, the Poliovirus Contention Commission, and advisory groups for the World Health Organization, including the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety. He is the technical coordinator of the Immunization Group of the Mesoamerican Health Initiative, and a member of the Committee of Vaccines of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. Dr. Asturias currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition and Chairman of the Colorado Immunization Data Advisory Council.
J. David Beckham, M.D., Associate Professor of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, is an experienced neurovirology researcher. Since 2004 his research hasfocused on West Nile virus and its impact on cells in the nervous system. On May 16, Dr. Beckham’s publication, Zika Virus as an Emerging Global Pathogen: Neurological Complications of Zika Virus, was published online in JAMA Neurology. He was also recently interviewed on the subject for the April 2016 Center for Global Health, Global Health Link Newsletter. Dr. Beckham completed medical school and his residency at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by his fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine which he completed in 2007.
