The new Johns Hopkins Zika Center will diagnose and treat pregnant women, newborn babies, and men and women of all ages with the mosquito-borne and sexually transmitted virus. Scientists will assess long-term effects of the virus as well as new approaches to its prevention and treatment. Developed under the leadership of the Wilmer Eye Institute, the center is composed of providers and staff members from many adult and pediatric departments and divisions within Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“This breadth gives us the ability to diagnose, treat and help prevent further proliferation of disease,” says ophthalmologist and center director William May of the Wilmer Eye Institute.
Zika virus is known to cause microcephaly, a birth defect that affects the brain, but is also reported to cause eye abnormalities in more than half of babies infected with the illness. The Wilmer Eye Institute and its faculty members will diagnose and, in many cases, treat people of all ages for eye diseases associated with Zika virus, including cataracts.
Adults and children worldwide can be referred to the center by outside physicians or through several Johns Hopkins departments and divisions, including emergency medicine and maternal-fetal medicine. Patients can also call the Wilmer Eye Institute to schedule an appointment.
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