In the beginning of the summer, the recommended time was 8 weeks, now, researchers are advising both men and women who have been in Zika-affected areas to practice safe sex for at least 6 months.
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Neighboring Singapore has over the past week said it detected more than 240 Zika cases while Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted infection on Saturday. Previously, only men with symptoms of the disease were told to practice safe sex for six months.
The mosquito that transmits the virus is not found in the United Kingdom so risk to the wider British public is deemed to be “negligible” by health leaders.
The Bahamas reported an initial case of the virus on August 10 in a man who had recently travelled to Jamaica.
They found live Zika virus in the rodents’ eyes seven days later.
The World Health Organization says the outbreak of Zika remains an worldwide health emergency and noted the virus is continuing to infect new countries. Last month, an unconfirmed number of people were diagnosed with the Zika virus in Scotland.
Many people infected with Zika will not have symptoms, or will only have mild ones – a fever, rash and muscle/joint aches. The study, fast-tracked for publication in Cell Reports, was conducted in mice, thereby creating an animal model for studying transmission and treatment of this alarming virus. The researchers are planning similar research in people who have been infected with Zika.
That could help account for why Zika has spread so quickly, outpacing what might be expected if the virus were only carried by mosquitoes, Diamond said.
But the spread of the virus worldwide – including into northern areas where the primary source of the disease, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is not prevalent – suggests a far greater role for sex in Zika transmission.
With mounting evidence that sexual transmission of Zika virus is more common than previously assumed, the World Health Organization extended the recommended period from eight weeks to six months.
It is not yet known whether the virus typically makes that trip by crossing the blood-retina barrier that separates the eye from the bloodstream, travelling along the optic nerve that connects the brain and the eye, or some other route. The major concern of the virus is for pregnant women, as Zika is linked to severe birth defects in babies born to infected mothers. Diamond added saying that “We need to consider whether people with Zika have infectious virus in their eyes and how long it actually persists”.
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But there have been several dozen cases of locally transmitted Zika in the Miami area, prompting US health officials to urge women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to take health precautions.
