In Zika’s case, that process will take a decade or more, the authors of the new report project.
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Before the New York City case occurred, officials believed only males could transmit the virus sexually (either to women or to other men).
A New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report said a man in his 20s contracted the virus after having vaginal intercourse with his partner, who had recently returned from a country with ongoing Zika transmission.
She developed signature symptoms of Zika – fever, rash, joint and muscle pain – a day later.
What does this mean going forward?
While this is the first documented case of a woman spreading Zika through sex, health experts say it is not surprising because most diseases that can be spread through sex can be spread by both men and women.
Existing research has thus far cautioned pregnant women who have sex partners who have traveled to or resides in Zika-affected areas to “use barrier methods” every time they have sex or abstain from intercourse altogether.
In addition, the CDC plans to update its recommendation for sexually active couples in which the woman is not pregnant. Bryan Lewis, PhD, a disease modeler at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, told NPR this summer is likely to be the worst for Zika in the US due to the import of travel-associated cases from Latin America. Frieden has said he has been surprised by the spread of Zika virus through sex. This LALA antibody showed to inhibit the increase of Zika virus infection caused by antibodies present in the serum of subjects immune to Dengue or Zika virus and showed prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy in a lethal infection model of Zika virus.
The Director of Health Promotion and Education at the Ministry of Health, Modou Njai, has affirmed that there is no Zika concern for The Gambia despite reports of the existence of the virus in two West African countries.
Until at least 2026, the researchers said, the virus’ prodigious spread will be its undoing: having infected and thus inoculated most in its path, Zika would be deprived of the kindling that allows a viral outbreak to gain a foothold and march across a human landscape it has trodden before.
Based on this case, the CDC is revising its recommendations for how people can protect themselves from getting infected with the Zika virus through sexual contact. Early cases of male-to-female transmission involved hematospermia, blood in seminal fluid.
Some evidence has shown the virus in urine, saliva, and vaginal fluids of infected women, but sexual transmission was not seen until now. Now, in light of the New York City case, that prevention message becomes more broad. One study in women found the virus in the cervix and genitals three days after illness onset, while another investigation in female rhesus monkeys stated the virus can last in these regions up to seven days.
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“Unlike other mosquito-borne viruses, with Zika, an uninfected mosquito can be infected if it bites a person carrying the virus”, Saldivar said. And the man was uncircumcised, and uncircumcised men are considered at higher risk of catching sexually transmitted diseases.
