Unlike the case of the elderly Utah man, who was dubbed by investigators as “the index patient”, the family member who also contracted the Zika virus has responded very well to the medical treatment he has received.
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For what it’s worth, two mosquito species capable of carrying and transmitting the Zika virus are known to be present in some tropical corners of the U.S. However, there have been no instances of an infection that has originated in the country, and no Zika-infected mosquitoes are known to have reached Utah. To prevent the spread of disease, people traveling to those areas now affected should carefully follow steps to avoid mosquito bites while there.
Authorities did not give further details about either patient, citing health privacy laws. No other similar viruses are sexually transmitted as Zika is.
It’s not immediately clear why the elderly man had such high levels of virus in his body, although he had an underlying disease that could have contributed, officials said.
If person-to-person transmission is possible, then that means Zika could linger in the air after an infected person has breathed, coughed or sneezed – greatly increasing the ways someone could get infected.
Officials are interviewing and testing all the health-care workers who could have come into contact with the elderly man. That investigation is likely to take at least several weeks.
For now, the CDC is not advising any changes in protocol or issuing any new warnings for healthcare providers working with Zika virus. “The pregnancy will now be monitored by the Bureau for Public Health’s Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health through the U.S. Zika Pregnancy registry due to the increased risk of microcephaly and other potential birth defects”.
Pierce County man in his 20s tested positive for the Zika virus.
The CDC has also been tracking pregnant women infected with Zika, and says they have five reports of pregnancy losses because of miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion. The most common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (pink eye). The virus has also been linked to a rare paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
But although an incident of Zika spreading without mosquitoes or sex is alarming, researchers still don’t fully understand what’s going on just yet, so there’s no need to panic.
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However, 14 patients had not traveled to Zika zones but had sex with someone who had, the CDC said. All of the cases were contracted by travel to countries where the virus is active, according to the release.
