On Thursday, August 25th, Dr. Gredia Huerta-Montañez (HSC, COTC) spoke at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, Texas for the 2016 Children’s Environmental U.S.-MX Border Symposium, an event organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This year’s theme for the forum was “Children’s Environmental Health on the Border: Protecting Children Where They Live, Learn, and Play.” According to the EPA, the goal of the event was to educate those in attendance—health care providers, academics, community health workers, policy makers, social workers, and community leaders—about the impact environmental issues have on the health of children. Special emphasis was placed on environmental health issues concerning the U.S. and Mexico. The event featured speakers from both nations, and Dr. Huerta-Montañez spoke as a U.S. representative on the Zika virus.
Dr. Huerta-Montañez’s presentation was entitled “Zika: at the Crossroad of Vector Borne Emerging Infectious Diseases and Teratogenicity,” and she focused on a number of Zika-related issues ranging in complexity. She began her lecture with a summary of the basic epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical manifestations, and management of the Zika virus, and continued with a discussion on the association between Zika and conditions such as microcephaly. She also provided an update on the status of the Zika virus epidemic in Puerto Rico and the continental United States. Dr. Huerta-Montañez ended her presentation with a discussion on the importance of primary prevention and communication as well as with added commentary on the complexity of risk assessment.
Both CRECE and PROTECT have conducted Community Outreach and Translation events around the U.S. (placing special emphasis on Puerto Rico) in order to help spread awareness of the Zika virus. Click here to read more.
View the full Children’s Environmental Health Symposium agenda here.
View Dr. Gredia Huerta-Montanez’s full PowerPoint presentation here.
Title slide from Dr. Huerta- Montañez’s presentation at the symposium. See the full slideshow online by clicking on the image.