On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the 14 cases include two pregnant women whose infections have been confirmed.
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According to the CDC’s website, 82 reports of travel-associated Zika virus have been documented within the continental U.S.so far, but no cases of locally acquired Zika virus reports have been documented.
The women had not recently traveled to places where the virus is widely circulating, but they’d had sex with male partners who had recently returned from such travel and had Zika symptoms. Eight other cases are still being investigated, according to a CDC statement. Like previously reported cases of sexual transmission, these cases involve possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners. “At this time, there is no evidence that women can transmit Zika virus to their sex partners; however, more research is needed to understand this issue”.
Zika may be linked to the birth defect microcephaly which leaves newborns with abnormally small heads.
Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? The Dallas case marked the first report of local transmission in the United States.
But pregnant women who become infected with Zika may have babies born with a condition called microcephaly.
– Men with pregnant partners who live or have traveled to an area of active Zika transmission and their partner should use condoms every time during sex or abstain from having sex for the duration of the pregnancy. “While we don’t have specific information that proves this was sexual transmission, we know that some other viruses are found in semen as well as in saliva and we know that the sexual route is the clear route of spread”, she said.
So, how do you make sure you don’t get Zika or infect someone else – after all, 20% of cases are symptomless? Recent studies from other countries have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue.
Zika’s clearly a mosquito-borne virus, spread as female Aedes mosquitos sip blood from one person after another, often in the same room. An estimated 4 out of 5 people infected never have symptoms; when symptoms occur they may last from several days to one week.
Teams will also be on the lookout for other factors that, possibly in conjunction with Zika, could be behind Brazil’s increase in microcephaly, such as a prior infection with dengue, toxoplasmosis or the ingestion of toxins. “Research is now underway to answer this question as soon as possible”, the CDC said. CDC added two more destinations to its caution list Tuesday: Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.
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Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets.
