US health officials issued guidelines Friday to prevent the sexual transmission of the Zika virus, telling men who have been to outbreak areas to use condoms during sex with pregnant women.
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The CDC also said that women who aren’t pregnant, but who are concerned about contracting the virus through sex could consider using condoms during sex or abstaining if their partner has traveled to an area with Zika cases.
Having said this, more research is needed to determine whether or not the Zika can be transmitted through saliva or urine.
State Surgeon General John Armstrong says both tests are extremely important for mothers who traveled overseas and may have had symptoms. The woman’s health care provider may choose to perform an additional ultrasound to check the fetus for microcephaly.
With health authorities warning the disease could infect up to four million people in the Americas, ministers from 14 countries held talks in Uruguay to plot their response to the growing crisis, with fears the virus could spread worldwide.
The discovery adds to concern that Zika, which is predominantly spread by the Aedis aegypti mosquito, could also be transmitted by other means, particularly sex.
Paulo Gadelha says that the virus’s ability to infect other people through the two body fluids requires further study.
A test called PCR can detect Zika virus in the blood.
“Aedes mosquitoes are not found in Western Australia, so there is no recognised risk of the virus spreading here”.
In Colombia, Alejandro Gaviria, the health minister, said that his country had registered about 100 cases of GBS that are believed to be related to the Zika virus.
In Brazil, health officials are investigating a possible connection between the virus and babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads. 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.
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On Friday, researchers with Brazil’s Fiocruz research institute announced they had found live Zika virus in saliva and urine samples taken from two patients.
