He said using contraception to avoid spreading the virus could be considered morally acceptable.
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Couples who are trying to have children and live in Zika-affected areas should consider delaying pregnancy to avoid having babies born with birth defects, United Nations health officials now recommend. He says the cost of fighting mosquitos that spread diseases like the West Nile Virus is much different than fighting the mosquito that spreads Zika, both in approach and in cost.
She says that Zika can also be spread sexually, and she again advises to check that website for the appropriate information.
The WHO stopped short of recommending that couples put pregnancy on hold – only that they consider it.
The researcher is among the few isolated cases in the USA of someone who has become infected with the virus without traveling to an area with known Zika-carrying mosquitos or through sexual transmission.
Affected territories reported 191 more Zika cases last week, majority in Puerto Rico, boosting the number of local infections to 1,301.
“It’s important to understand that this is not the World Health Organization saying, ‘Hey everybody, don’t get pregnant.’ It’s that they should be advised about this, so they themselves can make the final decision”, Nyka Alexander, a World Health Organization spokeswoman, told the New York Times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded almost 700 travel-related cases in the 50 states and D.C., including almost a dozen through sexual transmission.
The CDC has recorded more than 1,300 locally acquired cases in the US territories, mainly in Puerto Rico, and an outbreak in Brazil has been linked to an uptick in the rate of babies born with abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly.
But recently published reports have found that some pregnant women show no symptoms of Zika infection, yet still give birth to babies with microcephaly. We know that pregnant women and small children need to be especially careful not to contract the disease. But Zika also can be spread through unprotected sex with a man who was infected.
Taking precautionary steps to prevent mosquito bites like wearing long-sleeved shirts and taking steps to prevent mosquito breeding are the foremost preventive measures.
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President Barack Obama has asked Congress to allocate $1.9 billion to combat the Zika threat, but lawmakers have yet to agree on a spending package. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has additional advice for travelers who are not pregnant: Women should wait at least eight weeks after a Zika illness, or possible exposure to the virus, before trying to conceive.
