Director of Center for Brazilian Studies consulted on Zika virus

UCLA International Institute, June 27, 2016 — Dr. Karin Nielsen, director of the UCLA Center for Brazilian Studies and professor of clinlical pediatrics in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, has recently been featured in several stories about Zika.

Investigate her comments on the:

• World Health Organization expert panel recommendation that the Olympics should proceed in Brazil (The New York Times (http: //www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/health/brazil-olympic-games-zika.html), Buzzfeed (https: //www.buzzfeed.com/danvergano/who-rio-olympics-pose-very-low-risk-of-zika-spread?utm_term=.ucL62QoyK#.teZk361eV), Parent Herald (http: //www.parentherald.com/articles/49374/20160615/zika-virus-outbreak-in-brazil-will-not-affect-upcoming-olympics-says-who-risk-of-spread-among-attendees-very-low.htm), Health 24 (http: //www.health24.com/Medical/infectious-diseases/Mosquito-borne-diseases/who-sees-very-low-threat-of-zika-virus-spreading-at-the-rio-olympics-20160615))

• A New England Journal of Medicine article (http: //www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1604037#t=abstract) on a study of 616 women in Colombia who were infected with Zika, which found that none of the women who contracted the virus during their third trimester had babies with any overt birth defects (The Wall Street Journal (http: //www.wsj.com/articles/zika-risk-to-babies-of-pregnant-women-infected-late-appears-less-1466025925), STAT (https: //www.statnews.com/2016/06/15/zika-infection-asymptomatic-pregnancy/))

• Things people should know when traveling to areas with Zika (NPR’s “All Things Considered (http: //www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/06/10/480969498/so-youre-going-to-a-place-with-zika-heres-what-you-need-to-know)”)