To prevent the spread of disease, people traveling to those areas now affected should carefully follow steps to avoid mosquito bites while there.
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Denton County Public Health (DCPH) on Tuesday confirmed its third travel-associated case of Zika virus.
Officials said at the conference that they are still uncertain about how the person contracted Zika.
The case raises the prospect of a previously unknown path of transmission for a virus that is capable of causing birth defects and has traveled quickly though Latin America.
Investigators plan to conduct additional interviews and testing of family members and health care workers who may have come into contact with the deceased man.
A family member who had cared for the patient was also discovered to be infected, prompting the CDC’s investigation. However, the CDC is now testing local mosquitoes to absolutely rule out this possibility.
With every new virus that suddenly gains notoriety-AIDS, SARS, MERS, Ebola-scientists have to piece together clues patient by patient.
Researchers have no evidence that Zika can become airborne, Dunn said, nor do officials expect that to be a cause.
“This is a unique situation”, he said. “This is the first time where there is a suspected spread of one person to another” beyond sex, the Washington Post reported. The relative had cared for the elderly man both at home and in the hospital.
“We are approaching using standard precautions, no contact with blood or bodily fluids”, said Bell. But mysteries like these are also opportunities to learn new things about an enigmatic virus.
“This suggests that these cells play a significant role in mediating transmission to the fetus and supports the hypothesis that transmission could occur across these membranes independently of the placenta, especially in mid- and late gestation”, Pereira said.
Health officials said Zika contributed to the man’s death, but that he also had an underlying medical condition and was elderly. It wasn’t until Foy met the grandson of Zika’s discoverer by chance that anyone even thought to test for Zika.
If person-to-person transmission is possible, then that means Zika could linger in the air after an infected person has breathed, coughed or sneezed – greatly increasing the ways someone could get infected.
Zika is spread primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito, which is also responsible for diseases like dengue fever and chikungunya.
The man returned from Puerto Rico last Wednesday. That investigation is likely to take at least several weeks.
A CDC Emergency Response Team is in Utah working with state and local public health officials.
The Pierce County Health Department said the man, in his 20s, was not hospitalized and is recovering. However, statistics show that, according to WebMD, “an estimated 80% of people infected with Zika don’t show symptoms”. It poses its biggest danger during pregnancy, when infection can cause a range of severe fetal abnormalities.
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His infection was only confirmed through tests after he died. Evidence of blood transmission has been seen in some labs, she added.
