Although Zika is typically spread via mosquito bites, there have been reports of transmission from male partners to female or other male partners.
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Zika is most risky for pregnant women because it’s been proven to cause birth defects including microcephaly and other brain defects.
It’s unknown whether Zika can be passed during kissing through saliva, or if the virus has a different risk for birth defects if it’s passed to a pregnant woman via sex versus from a mosquito.
Of the 1,306 reported Zika cases in the US, all but one involve people who contracted to the virus after traveling to countries where it is endemic, according to CDC figures.
It now recommends that pregnant women’s sexual partners – male and female – use protection or abstain from sex, said John Brooks, CDC’s senior medical adviser, in an interview with the Associated Press.
The next day, she developed fever, back pain, swelling, numbness and tingling in her hands and feet. “Eligible participants are adult men living in the continental United States or Hawaii who have laboratory-confirmed Zika virus infection”.
The woman, who is in her 20s and is not pregnant, had recently traveled to an area with ongoing Zika transmission, according to the report. He also went to the doctor, and his urine tested positive for Zika, but his blood did not.
“This case represents the first reported occurrence of female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika virus”, according to the report.
Everyone should take precautions to prevent mosquito bites to avoid infection with Zika virus, and to prevent further spread of the virus.
In a statement to FoxNews.com, the CDC said the semen study began in mid-April, and as of Wednesday, 52 men had signed on to participate. On the day she returned, she had unprotected vaginal sex (not oral or anal) with a male partner.
It appears that women infected with Zika can also spread the virus to their sexual partner.
She fell ill the next day, and a doctor’s visit and subsequent laboratory tests confirmed she’d been infected with the Zika virus.
While this is the first documented case of a woman spreading Zika through sex, health experts say it is not surprising because most diseases that can be spread through sex can be spread by both men and women.
Brooks noted that the male partner involved in the NY case was not circumcised.
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In one case, the virus was spread a few days before symptoms developed. At least 14 of the patients came down with the illness through sexual contact; all of the others contracted Zika while in another country. On Wednesday, the first in Texas with Zika-related microcephaly was born.
