More research will be needed to determine what role, if any, the presence of the virus in saliva plays in the spread of the Zika virus, the scientists said.
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All of those who were diagnosed with the virus contracted it while traveling outside the country, in areas where transmission of the Zika virus is continuing, Scott said.
An explosion of cases across Brazil and Latin America has prompted warnings against travel by pregnant women to the region and is even raising fears that travel to the Olympics, due to be held this August in Rio, will be disrupted.
The discovery adds to concern that Zika, which is predominantly spread by the Aedis aegypti mosquito, could also be transmitted by other means, particularly sex.
Brevard County Emergency Management Director Kimberly Prosser issued a special “flash report” late Thursday on Zika, which said that “in order to mitigate the risk of Zika in Brevard County, it is important to limit/reduce the numbers of mosquitoes by eliminating standing water which would serve as mosquito breeding grounds”.
The scientists were careful to clarify that there is no proof the virus can be transmitted through those fluids, but said people should take precautions, especially expecting mothers.
“How can they… not offer (women)… the possibility to stop their pregnancies if they wish?” she said. And all three cases involve people who took trips to Central and South America.
Researchers have been able to trace the gradual spread of Zika – slowly for decades and then, in the words of World Health Organization head Dr. Margaret Chan, “explosively” since 2015, when it was first detected in Brazil.
Also, on Tuesday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Dallas Health Department confirmed that someone got infected by intercourse with another who had traveled in a Zika-infected country.
Transfusions in the two cases were traced to separate donors who had Zika, both of whom reported having suffered symptoms days after they gave blood. “That is why we have teams on the ground now, heading out today, tomorrow and next week to different places to partner with countries around the continent so that we can learn more”, he said.
“People have already shown that it can spread to bodily fluids other than blood, so this isn’t entirely surprising”, he said. In fact, approximately 80 percent of people who become infected never experience symptoms.
In the interim guidance issued Friday morning, the CDC admits that doctors do not know how long the risk of sexual transmission lasts.
Currently, the only case of a baby being born with microcephaly in the U.S.is a case in Hawaii.
He added that the CDC expects to see many more travel-linked Zika infections in the weeks and months ahead.
Colombia has been hit hardest by the Zika outbreak of any country except Brazil, with more than 20,000 cases, including more than 2,000 pregnant women. And there was “the famous case in Hawaii”, Vasilakis says, of a woman who was in Brazil while pregnant. In an email, he said countries would likely be reluctant to share samples freely without agreements to ensure they wouldn’t be frozen out of any resulting products from their viruses, like drugs and vaccines.
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Still, most global experts are cautious about whether Zika can trigger Guillain-Barre, a rare syndrome that causes complete paralysis, because other infections and conditions can lead to the illness. Also, men who have traveled to the Zika-affected areas and have pregnant partners should correctly use condoms during all forms of insertive sex or abstain from sex during pregnancy.
