Dallas County reported on Tuesday that the first known case of Zika contracted in the United States was a person infected after having sex with someone who had returned from Venezuela. All the cases have been travel related.
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“The science is not clear on how long the risk should be avoided”, the CDC said.
The U.S. government on Friday urged men who recently traveled to areas where Zika virus runs rife and their pregnant sex partners to abstain from sexual activity or consistently and correctly use condoms during sex for the duration of the pregnancy. Door-to-door inspections have increased in neighborhoods where cases of Zika were reported.
In Brazil, health officials are investigating a possible connection between the virus and babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads.
The warning by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday came as the mosquito-borne virus has generated increasing concern in the United States. It recommended that pregnant women and their male partners should discuss any potential exposure by the male to Zika, or a history of Zika-like illness, with their doctor. The illness is usually mild, and many people who are infected do not show symptoms.
The Health Ministry said in an email to The Associated Press, that while the case of the gunshot victim was not yet part of a scientific study, “the case is among multiple investigations under way into the behavior of the virus”.
Discerning something like sexual transmission would have to occur in a place where an outbreak was not raging, he said. Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said, “So far, we have sent nearly 300 blood samples to laboratories and we have the capability to conduct tests at major hospitals”.
They also add men and non-pregnant women to the list of those who should consider their sexual risk from the virus, calling it a “complex and personal decision”.
World Health Organization director-general Dr. Margaret Chan said Monday (Feb. 1), in a statement published on WHO’s website, experts agreed “a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven”.
Health officials said Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 26 countries in the Americas. Does it only spread if the first person is suffering symptoms?
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“A mosquito would have to bite them and bite someone else”, she said.
