Both men and women who were possibly exposed to the virus should wait for at least eight weeks before attempting conception, the CDC’s new guidelines said.
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A woman contracted the disease in February after being intimate with a man who acquired the Zika virus during a trip to Colombia, FOX 5 San Diego reports.
Health officials in Saskatchewan say they are investigating what’s believed to be Canada’s first possible case of the Zika virus being spread through sex. A pregnant woman, who had traveled to Central America, also tested positive for the virus in Napa County, officials said. Of those cases, 19 are in pregnant women and six were sexually transmitted.
Nevada’s first Zika virus case has been reported in Clark County.
To date, 273 travel-related Zika cases have been reported in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“You can be infected by Zika and not have symptoms, but symptomatic Zika is usually body aches, headaches, sometimes skin rashes and joint aches”, Dr. Nolan said.
The Mississippi State Department of Health confirmed its second case of the Zika virus Friday morning. “For people who either have the Zika disease or who travel to an area with active Zika transmission, we are now recommending they wait a period of time before trying to get pregnant”. Dr. Werker suggested that men use a condom when having sex because the Zika virus can live much longer in semen than in blood.
The case involves a woman who had sex with a man who had travelled to a Zika-affected country.
Zika virus can be a concern for pregnant women, because it can be spread to the baby during pregnancy and cause birth defects.
Concern had been raised about a suspected link between the virus and two neurological disorders: microcephaly, which is associated with unusually small heads and, often, brain damage in infants; and, Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system attacks part of the nervous system.
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Oxford County Public Health is warning travelers to wait get pregnant if they have recently been to a country where the virus is present.
