Clinical findings and neurodevelopmental outcome in Jamaican children with suspected congenital Zika syndrome.

Background: Whilst vertical transmission of Zika virus (ZIKV) is established as the cause of congenital Zika syndrome (CZS), knowledge of this emerging disease remains incomplete.

Aim: To characterise the clinical, radiological and neurodevelopmental features of children antenatally exposed to ZIKV and/or presenting with suspected CZS in Jamaica, as part of the larger, international ZIKAction Paediatric Registry.

Methods: This retrospective observational study (disease/exposure hospital-based registry) included children cared for at public hospitals in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area, Jamaica if they had exposure to ZIKV in utero, laboratory confirmation of congenital ZIKV, or met the ZIKAction's Registry definition of suspected CZS.

Dengue, chikungunya and zika arbovirus infections in Caribbean children.

Purpose Of Review: Dengue, chikungunya and zika have caused significant epidemics in the Caribbean in recent years. This review highlights their impact in Caribbean children.

Recent Findings: Dengue has been increasingly intense and severe, seroprevalence is 80-100% in the Caribbean, children have increased attributable morbidity and mortality.

Hospitalized children with SARS-CoV-2 infection and MIS-C in Jamaica: A dive into the first 15 months of the novel pandemic.

Objectives: COVID-19 in children was initially mild until the emergence of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). We describe pediatric COVID-19 in a developing country within the Caribbean.

Methods: Jamaican children who were hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection, in one Caribbean regional academic referral center from April 2020 through June 2021 were included.

Sleep disorders and behavioral disorders in Jamaican children with epilepsy: A case-control study.

Children with epilepsy (CWE) are more likely to have sleep and behavioral disorders. With differences in reports, the aim was to evaluate sleep and behavior in Jamaican CWE and determine any association with epilepsy-related variables. Children with epilepsy were identified along with age and gender-matched controls from the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

Pregnancy in sickle cell-haemoglobin C (SC) disease. A retrospective study of birth size and maternal weight gain.

Objective: To assess pregnancy and fetal outcomes in Jamaican subjects with sickle cell-haemoglobin C (SC) disease.

Study Design: A retrospective chart review over 21 years (1992-2012) of all pregnancies in SC disease and a comparison group matched by gender and date of delivery in mothers with a normal haemoglobin (AA) phenotype at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica. There were 118 pregnancies in 81 patients with SC disease and 110 pregnancies in 110 in the normal comparison group.