As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Thursday, the CDC is now advising any man who has traveled to one of the affected countries to use condoms during all sexual encounters with their pregnant partner for the duration of the pregnancy.
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The CDC urged couples in which a partner is not pregnant to “consider using condoms consistently and correctly during sex or abstaining from sexual activity”.
Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a conference call Friday morning that he recognized how scary the unfolding crisis has been to pregnant women.
US health experts cautioned Friday that the apparent discovery of the Zika virus in saliva and urine from people in Brazil does not necessarily mean the virus can be spread by more casual contact with infected people, such as through kissing. The best way, overall, to avoid Zika is to prevent mosquito bites by wearing long sleeves and long trousers, use insect repellents, and if you’re in a country where Zika virus has been found, stay in places with air conditioning, and window and door screens.
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.
Reports of Guillan-Barre Syndrome, a neurological condition that can lead to paralysis, have also risen in areas where the virus has been reported. One woman gave birth in Hawaii to a child with microcephaly; officials said she likely contracted the virus while living in Brazil.
On Feb. 1, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – for microcephaly, not Zika – and directed health workers to investigate if there’s a causal link between the two.
In December 2013, during a Zika outbreak in French Polynesia, a patient that was seeking treatment for hematospermia (blood in the semen) was found to have Zika in his semen.
There are no vaccines to protect against Zika virus. The ailment results in an abnormally small head in newborns and is associated with various disorders including decreased brain development.
– The CDC issued new, interim guidelines for Zika virus. Pregnant women with no symptoms should get a test when they get their next prenatal visit.
But in the end, the CDC says “mosquito bites remain the primary way that Zika virus is transmitted”. Four out of five people who become infected with Zika never feel sick.
The first case of a pregnant woman in Europe being diagnosed with Zika has been confirmed in Spain.
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Both individuals tested positive for the virus, and there have been no documented cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika in Dallas. It’s that county’s first known case of Zika.
