NORTHFIELD, Ill., Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, the award-winning medical journal published by The College of American Pathologists (CAP), has created a comprehensive review of the Zika virus in its upcoming January 2017 issue. A series of 10 articles written by experts in the investigation of this emerging global pathogen will provide pathologists and other health care professionals with critical insight to the history of Zika virus from its initial discovery in the Ziika Forest of Uganda in 1947 to its recent designation by the World Health Organization as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This series represents the first special issue focused on Zika virus in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
“The editorial board and staff of Archives are proud to offer this outstanding, leading-edge special issue on Zika virus,” said Philip T. Cagle, MD, FCAP, Editor-in-Chief of Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. “This group of articles will start a critical conversation that will be invaluable to practicing pathologists in their daily work as it relates to this emerging health problem.”
The articles were selected and edited by Archives Associate Editor David A. Schwartz, MD, MS Hyg, FCAP, a leader in the field of global maternal health and placental pathology. Schwartz said the medical community needed a publication to step forward with the latest information about the Zika virus so that additional collaboration among pathologists, medical scientists, and the affected clinical specialties can instantly begin in 2017.
“This issue highlights up-to-date knowledge regarding the anatomic pathology and laboratory medicine aspects of this newly-emergent virus, so that everyone in the medical arena can know more about, and most importantly, protect patients from, the Zika virus,” Schwartz said. “There has been unprecedented cooperation and collaboration among physicians as well as biomedical, public health, and social scientists during the Zika virus pandemic. We were thrilled to get leading voices in health care and virology to contribute to the Archives special issue; their collective voices represent the collaboration that is the hallmark of the effective delivery of health care.”
Among the articles written by leading Zika virus researchers that will appear in this issue are:
- Zika Virus: Pathology From the Pandemic by Jana M. Ritter, DVM; Roosecelis B. Martines, MD, PhD; and Sherif R. Zaki, MD, PhD, describes clinical and pathology findings from fetuses, infants, and placentas having congenital Zika syndrome.
- Placental Pathology of Zika Virus: Viral Infection of the Placenta Induces Villous Stromal Macrophage (Hofbauer Cell) Proliferation and Hyperplasia by Avi Z. Rosenberg, MD, PhD; Weiying Yu, PhD; D. Ashley Hill, MD; Christine A. Reyes, MD; and David A. Schwartz, MD, MS Hyg, describes the unique placental pathology findings of intrauterine Zika virus infection and the localization of the virus in the placenta.
- Laboratory Diagnosis of Zika Virus Infection by Marie Louise Landry, MD; and Kirsten St. George, PhD, reviews the current status of methods for the laboratory diagnosis of Zika virus infection.
- Zika and the Blood Supply: A Work in Progress by Louis M. Katz, MD; and Susan N. Rossmann, MD, PhD, discusses the rapidly-changing aspects of the guidelines, safety, and testing of the blood supply and issues related to organ transplantation following the development of the Zika virus pandemic.
Additional articles in this special issue address the history of the discovery of the Zika virus in Uganda, the biology of the Zika virus as an emerging flavivirus pathogen, anatomic effects of Zika virus on the central nervous system of fetuses, Zika virus as the newest agent of congenital TORCH infections, autopsy pathology findings in fetuses and neonates with microcephaly and congenital Zika virus syndrome, experimental and laboratory studies of Zika virus infection in cell cultures and animal models of infection, and the role of the medical examiner and coroner in the Zika virus pandemic.
All of the articles in this Zika virus special issue will be available on the Archives open access Web site (http://www.archivesofpathology.org/).
About the College of American Pathologists
As the world’s largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, read the CAP Annual Report at cap.org.
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SOURCE College of American Pathologists
