US health officials are investigating more than a dozen possible Zika infections that may have been spread through sex.
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The CDC restated there is no evidence that women can transmit the virus to their sexual partners and that the most likely way to become infected with the Zika virus is from infected mosquitoes.
There have been two reported cases, including a recent one in Texas, and at least two other reports of the Zika virus found in semen.
All of the cases involve men who traveled to areas where Zika is circulating and had symptoms of the virus within two weeks before their female partner’s symptoms began.
Brazil is at the center of a Zika outbreak and the virus is strongly suspected of causing a spike in microcephaly, a congenital condition that causes abnormally small heads and hampers brain development.
Health authorities in French Polynesia say they never used the insecticide which Argentinian experts link to the large number of microcephaly cases in Brazil’s Zika outbreak.
The CDC is working with state health officials to investigate all of these cases.
Several of the cases involve partners who are pregnant.
The director of mursing at the Department of Health, Margaret Sesepasara, said women thinking of becoming pregnant should reconsider due to Zika.
Scientists had believed sexual transmission of Zika to be extremely rare.
The first case of sexual transmission in the United States during this current outbreak was documented in Dallas in February. The CDC now lists over 30 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean as places with active Zika infection.
The study’s launch comes a day after President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion to help stem the spread of the Zika virus. “Also, we do not completely understand which mosquito species transmit this virus, it appears to be Aedes Aegypti, but really we need to do experiments to confirm whether or not other species can have a minor role in the transmission of this virus”.
It also added three locations – Trinidad, Tobago and the Marshall Islands – to its list of travel notices in relation to the virus.
So, how do you make sure you don’t get Zika or infect someone else – after all, 20% of cases are symptomless?
It also includes a graphic meant for pregnant women considering travel to Zika-affected areas. It is unknown how long the risk should be avoided. “Research is now underway to answer this question as soon as possible”.
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Evidence is mounting that it’s not just mosquitoes that can pass the disease from person to person: Zika can be spread through sex, too.
