Men and women traveling to countries with Zika outbreaks should not have unprotected sex with their pregnant partner, according to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo expanded his state’s free Zika testing to include all pregnant women who have been to countries where people are being infected.
The guidance also suggests the men might consider abstaining or using condoms even with a partner who isn’t pregnant.
So far, there have been no reports of sexual transmission of Zika virus from infected women to their sex partners, the CDC added.
Obstetricians have said that since 80 percent of those infected by the virus show no symptoms, it leaves many pregnant women no way of knowing early enough to make an informed choice about their unborn child. 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. “Presence of virus in saliva doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily transmissible that way”.
But this week came the news in Dallas that a patient had caught the virus after having sexual contact with someone who had returned from Venezuela, where Zika is circulating.
Authorities say all caught the virus while traveling overseas, though there is concern it could spread locally because the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the virus is present in the southern United States.
“We’re not aware of any mosquito disease associated with such a potential devastating birth outcome on a scale anything like what appears to be occurring with Zika in Brazil”, Frieden said.
As Zika’s impact continues to grow, health officials are still struggling to answer basic questions about how the virus works.
The CDC is also investigating if a rare paralysis syndrome called Guillain-Barre is related to the virus.
The virus is mainly spread by a certain type of mosquito not yet seen in the U.S. Only about one in five people who get it will become sick and the symptoms are mild.
Advertisement
The World Health Organization on Monday declared a public health emergency over the Zika virus and increased reports of birth defects and a serious neurological condition that could be linked to it. “I understand this is a stressul situation for women and their families”, he said.
