In at least two of the cases, a Zika infection was confirmed in women whose only known risk factor was sexual contact with an ill male partner who recently had returned from one of the almost three dozen countries where the virus has now spread.
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The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who many have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled to those areas.
To help tease out what role Zika virus might have played, researchers will compare the two groups, analyzing blood samples to test for Zika and dengue viruses, the AP reported.
The CDC stressed, however, that Zika infection in newborns who contract the virus during delivery is typically mild or without symptoms.
Scott Pattison, executive director of the NGA, told Bloomberg BNA that under the partnership, each governor will appoint a state official to oversee that state’s Zika virus response and development of an action plan to prepare for an emergency. But with scant scientific literature published on the matter, some doctors in Brazil and elsewhere say there is not yet enough scientific data to prove the connection. Providers should consult CDC’s guidelines for evaluation and testing of pregnant women.
At this time, there is no evidence that women can transmit Zika virus to their sex partners, CDC said.
The CDC on Tuesday reiterated those recommendations, saying that “these new reports suggest sexual transmission may be a more likely means of transmission for Zika virus than previously considered”.
Research is also underway into a possible link between Zika infection and a paralyzing condition in adults called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Experts nearly all agree that Zika is unlikely to spread much in the US, in part because the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries it isn’t common except in parts of the far south and Hawaii, and also because Americans live indoors mostly, with air conditioning and little chance for the mosquitoes to live and breed inside homes. The World Health Organization now estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.
On Tuesday, Brazil’s health ministry reported 583 confirmed cases of babies with microcephaly since October, compared to an annual average of 150.
In four out of five cases, people who are bitten by an infected mosquito show no symptoms.
One big question is how long men might be able to transmit Zika in semen. The CDC now lists over 30 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean as places with active Zika infection.
For more on Zika virus, and where the virus is endemic, head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The majority of people with Zika virus have no symptoms.
