Zika en Embarazadas y Niños (ZEN) is a prospective cohort study designed to identify risk factors and modifiers for Zika virus (ZIKV) infection in pregnant women, partners, and infants, as well as assess the risk for adverse maternal, fetal, infant, and childhood outcomes of ZIKV and other congenital infections.ZIKV infection during pregnancy may be associated with long-term sequelae. 1519 pregnant women and 287 partners were enrolled from three departments within Colombia between February 2017 and January 2018. 1108 infants born to the pregnant women were enrolled in the study and followed to 6 months. Data include baseline questionnaires at enrollment, repeated symptoms and study follow-up questionnaires, lab testing to detect ZIKV and other congenital infections, medical record abstraction, infant physical, eye and hearing exams and developmental screeners. Follow-up of 850 mother-child dyads occurred at 9, 12, and 18 months, with developmental screenings, physical exams and parent questionnaires. Data will be pooled with those from other prospective cohort studies for an individual participant data meta-analysis on ZIKV infection during pregnancy and characterize pregnancy outcomes and sequelae in children.

We assessed maternal and infant cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in Colombia.Maternal serum was tested for CMV immunoglobulin G antibodies at a median of 10 (interquartile range: 8-12) weeks gestation (n = 1501). CMV DNA polymerase chain reaction was performed on infant urine to diagnose congenital (≤21 days of life) and postnatal (>21 days) infection. Maternal CMV seroprevalence was 98.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 97.5%-98.8%). Congenital CMV prevalence was 8.4 (95% CI: 3.9%-18.3%; 6/711) per 1000 live births. Among 472 infants without confirmed congenital CMV infection subsequently tested at age 6 months, 258 (54.7%, 95% CI: 50.2%-59.1%) had postnatal infection.

Effective health education programs for improving the level of knowledge of STI and the promotion of consistent condom use activities along with other appropriate harm reduction activities are urgently required among FSW in Colombia.

Background Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects in the fetus and is associated with neurodevelopmental abnormalities in childhood. Our objective was to describe ZIKV knowledge and attitudes among pregnant women in Colombia while ZIKV was circulating and whether they predicted the adoption of behaviors to prevent ZIKV mosquito-borne and sexual transmission. Methods We used self-reported data from Zika en Embarazadas y Niños (ZEN), a cohort study of women in early pregnancy across three regions of Colombia during 2017–2018. We used Poisson regression to estimate associations between knowledge, attitudes and previous experience with mosquito-borne infection and preventative behaviors. Results Among 1519 women, knowledge of mosquito-borne transmission was high (1480; 97.8%) and 1275 (85.5%) participants were worried about ZIKV infection during pregnancy. The most common preventive behavior was wearing long pants (1355; 89.4%). Regular mosquito repellent use was uncommon (257; 17.0%). While ZIKV knowledge and attitudes were not associated with the adoption of ZIKV prevention behaviors, previous mosquito-borne infection was associated with increased condom use (prevalence ratio 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7). Conclusions Participants were well informed about ZIKV transmission and its health consequences. However, whether this knowledge resulted in behavior change is less certain.