The CDC is alerting the public it is investigating 14 possible US cases of Zika virus as a “strong reminder” the virus can be sexually transmitted as well as through a mosquito bite in Zika-affected countries.
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The CDC is advising men who have recently been to a Zika outbreak area to use a condom when they have sex with a pregnant women, or to abstain from sex during the pregnancy.
USA and Brazilian health workers seeking to determine if the Zika virus is causing a surge in birth defects ran into the chaotic reality of northeastern Brazil on their study’s first day Tuesday.
There’s also evidence that Zika could eventually be spread by the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which is more prevalent in the US.
The handful of illnesses here have been in people who traveled to one of the two dozen countries where the Zika virus is in circulation, then fell ill once they returned.
The Zika virus is spreading and mosquitoes might not be to blame.
The link hasn’t been confirmed but the possibility has prompted health officials to take cautionary steps to protect fetuses from the virus.
Dr. Peter Hotez, endowed chairman of Tropical Pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital, told Al Jazeera that it was a significant development for a virus mostly transmitted by mosquitos.
At least 100 cases of Zika infection have been diagnosed, according to state health departments.
“In all events for which information is available, travelers were men and reported symptom onset was within 2 weeks before the non-traveling female partner’s symptoms [of Zika infection] began”, the agency said.
A pregnant woman looks on as mosquito nets are used at the Women National Hospital in an effort to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes that might carry Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, in San Salvador, El Salvador.
According to ODH’s website, 80 percent of people infected with Zika virus will not show symptoms.
Maternity hospitals in Paraiba, the impoverished state that is one of the epicenters of Brazil’s tandem outbreaks of Zika and microcephaly, provided the CDC and its Brazilian partners with mothers’ addresses.
Right now, scientists have far more questions than answers about Zika.
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“I want to reassure you – we are in February now, and the Olympic Games are in August – that the government is working very closely with the International Olympic Movement, with the local organizing committee and supported by World Health Organization and PAHO and other partners to make sure we have a very good work plan to tackle the vector, the mosquito”, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said.
