More pregnant women should be tested for Zika

Federal health officials have issued guidelines for preventing sexual transmission of Zika virus, advising men who may have been exposed to the virus and have a pregnant partner to practice safe sex or abstain until their baby is born.

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.

“Anyone developing symptoms within two weeks of returning to Nebraska from a Zika-affected area should notify his or her physician”, said Shavonna Lausterer, Director of the Sarpy/Cass Department of Health and Wellness.

In its statement, the UNFPA said women and girls should be able to make decisions about family planning and to protect their babies and themselves if they decide to become pregnant. Colombia has also seen a rise in the number of patients diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder which can cause paralysis. Two cases have been confirmed this year, and one was confirmed last year: All involved travel to South or Central America.

The Health Ministry emphasized that there is no significant risk of Zika spreading throughout Spain, saying that “the diagnosed cases of Zika virus in Spain … don’t risk spreading the virus in our country as they are imported cases”.

U.K.’s public health minister, Jane Ellison, said, according to the Guardian: “Disinsection is a highly precautionary measure to reduce the risk to passengers during flights to the United Kingdom I want to reassure people that the risk to the United Kingdom population is extremely low”.

The WHO indicated reports of associations of the Zika virus with microcephaly and other neurological conditions. There have also been reports of the disease spreading through sexual contact and blood transfusions. Right now Florida has 448 kits to test people who currently have the virus, and the Governor is authorizing the Department of Health to purchase 4,000 more.

But, they said, more study is needed to find out whether the virus can infect by exchanging body fluids. That’s why the new recommendation for precautions during sex is for a woman’s entire pregnancy.

Much about the virus, including whether it can be transmitted from person to person, remains unclear.

Here is what we have recently learned – and what we still don’t know – about how Zika spreads.