Project Vigilancia de Embarazadas con Zika (VEZ), an intensified surveillance of pregnant women with symptoms of the Zika virus disease (ZVD) in Colombia, aimed to evaluate the relationship between symptoms of ZVD during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy, birth, and infant outcomes and early childhood neurodevelopmental outcomes. During May–November 2016, pregnant women in three Colombian cities who were reported with symptoms of ZVD to the national surveillance system, or with symptoms of ZVD visiting participating clinics, were enrolled in Project VEZ. Data from maternal and pediatric (up to two years of age) medical records were abstracted. Available maternal specimens were tested for the presence of the Zika virus ribonucleic acid and/or anti-Zika virus immunoglobulin antibodies. Of 1213 enrolled pregnant women with symptoms of ZVD, 1180 had a known pregnancy outcome. Results of the Zika virus laboratory testing were available for 569 (48.2%) pregnancies with a known pregnancy outcome though testing timing varied and was often distal to the timing of symptoms; 254 (21.5% of the whole cohort; 44.6% of those with testing results) were confirmed or presumptive positive for the Zika virus infection. Of pregnancies with a known outcome, 50 (4.2%) fetuses/infants had Zika-associated brain or eye defects, which included microcephaly at birth. Early childhood adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes were more common among those with Zika-associated birth defects than among those without and more common among those with laboratory evidence of a Zika virus infection compared with the full cohort. The proportion of fetuses/infants with any Zika-associated brain or eye defect was consistent with the proportion seen in other studies. Enhancements to Colombia’s existing national surveillance enabled the assessment of adverse outcomes associated with ZVD in pregnancy.

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Background Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause infant brain and eye abnormalities and has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in exposed infants. Evidence is limited on ZIKV’s effects on children infected postnatally within the first year of life. Objective To determine whether any adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes occurred in early childhood for children infected postnatally with ZIKV during infancy, given the neurotoxicity of ZIKV infection and the rapid brain development that occurs in infancy and early childhood. Methods The Colombia Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) conducted health and developmental screenings between September and November 2017 to evaluate 60 children at ages 20‐30 months who had laboratory‐confirmed symptomatic postnatal ZIKV infection at ages 1‐12 months. We examined the frequency of adverse neurologic, hearing, eye, and developmental outcomes as well as the relationship between age at Zika symptom onset and developmental outcomes. Results Nine of the 60 (15.0%) children had adverse outcomes on the neurologic, hearing, or eye examination. Six of the 47 (12.8%) children without these adverse findings, and who received a valid developmental screening, had an alert score in the hearing‐language domain which signals the need for additional developmental evaluation. Conclusion Neurologic, hearing, eye, and developmental findings suggest reassuring results. Since the full spectrum of neurodevelopmental outcomes in children postnatally infected with ZIKV remains unknown, routine paediatric care is advised to monitor the development of these children to ensure early identification of any adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.