Texas Health Officials Report Sexually Transmitted Case of Zika Virus

The US Centers for Disease Control has confirmed a Texas patient has been infected with the virus without travelling to a Zika-affected country.

The virus is usually spread through mosquito bites, but investigators have been exploring the possibility it can also be spread through sex.

There is also now growing evidence that the disease can be spread sexually according to BBC News.

“We will partner up with the USA government, with President Obama, with whom we have spoken, to establish our capacity and improve it in order to develop, as quickly as possible, a vaccine for the Zika virus”, said Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff.

“The timing of the travel, the mosquito activity at that time of year, and the timing of the infection all point to sexual transmission, and not a mosquito bite”, said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Washington Post health reporter Lena Sun said it’s advising patients infected with Zika to take precautions.

“Pregnant women should consider postponing non-essential travel to countries where the Zika virus is endemic, as the implications of infection for the unborn child can be devastating”, he said.

Last January 29, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that actions are being taken to combat the Zika virus. Doctors are also being instructed to work closely with their local health departments and to quickly report any suspected Zika cases.

The World Health Organisation has declared an global emergency over the virus, which is linked to birth defects in Brazil and the Americas.

“We know that the mosquitoes that carry Zika virus… are present through most of Africa, parts of southern Europe and many parts of Asia, particularly south Asia”, he said. It is unclear whether in pregnant women the virus crosses the placenta and causes microcephaly.

Exactly how common or rare is sexual transmission? Just a few days earlier, the CDC had emphasized that current science only allowed for the “plausibility of spread” through sexual contact, but that mosquitoes were still the most likely source of infection.

At Mount Sinai, alerts regarding the Zika virus have not altered the standard screening for infectious diseases, which predates the Ebola outbreak, said Dr. Brian Koll, executive director of infection prevention at the hospital system.

Long-term health consequences of Zika infection remain unclear.

How do you treat Zika infection? Symptons of Zika tend to be milder than those of viruses in in the same family, and an estimate 80% of people infected as asymptomatic. The screening includes questions related to recent travel and symptoms such as fever and rash.