The The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, announced new guidance for doctors whose pregnant patients may have traveled to regions with a tropical illness linked to birth defects.
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Yes, the mosquito-borne Zika virus causes birth defects.
There have been 33 microcephaly cases recorded this year in Colombia associated with various causes, according to a statement from the Health Ministry.
While much of the media attention surrounding sexually transmitted Zika virus has centered around heterosexual couples, due to the association with pregnancy risk, gay men and others who engage in unprotected anal sex should note that Zika virus can affect anyone.
A Summit County resident has tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling to a Zika-infected country, the Summit County Public Health department said Thursday.
The unnamed man that contracted the infection is said to have had intercourse with another man who returned with Zika virus infection from Venezuela.
The virus can be passed through semen, the CDC said, but studies to determine how long the virus can stay present in semen are still ongoing. 26, 2015, the U.S. government said Zika infections have been confirmed in nine pregnant women in the United States. According to The New York Times, infectious disease doctors in the USA seem to agree that the only way to prevent the birth of deformed babies is to avoid pregnancy. Based on the total weight of the evidence, CDC researchers concluded that they can now say there is a definite link between Zika and microcephaly.
In its situation report on the virus, the World Health Organization says that, since its first discovery in 2007, the Zika virus has now been documented in 64 countries, 42 of which have experienced their first outbreak from 2015 onwards.
“We feel it’s time to move from precautionary language to more forceful language to get people to take action”, said Bruce Aylward, who is leading WHO’s Zika response. “A week after his return, his longtime partner, who had not traveled outside the country, became ill”.
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The disease usually results in mild symptoms including fever, rash and fatigue.
