After confirming a sexually transmitted case of Zika virus in Dallas County, Texas, the CDC released guidelines calling for men who have traveled to affected areas to use condoms during sex with a pregnant partner or abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday that men with potential exposure to the Zika virus should consider abstaining from sex if their partner is pregnant. Some 80 percent of individuals won’t know they are infected and could pass Zika on to local mosquitoes, resulting in more local cases.
Zika, it’s important to point out, causes relatively mild symptoms, and for most people it’s nothing to worry about.
Two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that pregnant women postpone trips to countries with Zika outbreaks, which are occurring in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The hospital also is establishing protocols to diagnose patients whose symptoms match the virus and is taking steps to identify and monitor pregnant women who may have been exposed. In El Salvador, one of those warning against pregnancy, abortion is punishable by up to 40 years in prison.
Paulo Gadelha, president of Fiocruz, said the development was of greatest concern to pregnant women, given the strongly suspected link with microcephaly, which caused the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of global concern. It is the first known pregnancy-related Zika case in Europe.
Infections in pregnant women have been linked to a serious birth defect, microcephaly, although the association is not scientifically confirmed.
Brazil has been hit hardest with almost 4,000 cases so far and the virus has spread to more than 30 countries, including Ireland.
Zika virus is being transmitted primarily through the bites of Aedes species mosquitoes. Zika’s link to microcephaly, or head deformations in newborns, are circumstantial and not fully understood yet.
The UN has urged for women to receive increased access to abortion over fears of severe birth defects.
The head of a top Brazilian health research institute says its scientists have discovered the presence of active Zika virus in urine and saliva samples.
However, there have been only two suspected cases of sexual transmission of Zika.
There are at least 54 people infected with the Zika virus in the U.S. In all except one case, the infection was acquired while out of the country, according to health officials.
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The discovery opens “new paradigms for understanding the transmission routes of the Zika virus”, she said.
