Important Note

Zika Testing is performed at the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory (VDH). Doctors need to  call the VDH Infectious Disease Epidemiology at (802) 863-7240. VDH is filtering patients to determine risk level and if testing is appropriate. In addition to patient demographic information, doctors will need to provide:

1. Travel History

2. Exposure history

3. Symptom history and date of onset (if applicable)

4. Pregnancy status (if applicable)

Fill out the VDH Clinical Test Request Form

The patient needs to have an order for the Zika Testing in LIS or Laboratory Order Form and the completed VDH form.  Phlebotomy will NOT collect samples without the VDH form.

Criteria for Zika Testing

• Any symptomatic* person with travel to an area with active Zika transmission within previous 2 weeks of symptom onset, OR
• Any symptomatic* person who had unprotected sexual exposure to semen of a man (does NOT need to be a confirmed Zika virus case) who had previously traveled to an area with active Zika transmission, OR
• A pregnant woman WITH or WITHOUT symptoms* who had a history of travel to an area with active Zika transmission within the previous 12 weeks, OR
• A pregnant woman who had unprotected sexual exposure to semen of a man** who had previously traveled to an area with active Zika
  *Symptoms consistent with Zika virus include acute febrile illness, rash, arthralgia, conjunctivitis, myalgia or headache

NOTE: Current CDC research suggests that Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is strongly associated with Zika; however, only a small proportion of people with recent Zika virus infection get GBS. If you have a patient with a GBS diagnosis and a recent travel history to an area with active Zika transmission, call the VT Department of Health at (802) 863-7240 for further guidance on specimen collection for Zika lab testing.

Testing will not be approved for asymptomatic women considering pregnancy. The current CDC recommendation is for women to wait 8 weeks after return from travel to attempt conception.

PMC Lab WILL submit all 3 samples at the same time.  VDH will determine which test to perform based on the information provided to Epidemiology.