WHO says time for Europe to prepare Zika defenses

Health authorities in Dallas, Texas, said on Tuesday they had received confirmation of the first transmission of the Zika virus through sexual contact.

According to Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the infection Tuesday.

The county department said on Twitter that the person was infected through sexual contact with someone who had traveled to Venezuela. Wisconsin Division of Public Health epidemiologist Diep Hoang Johnson said this week that pregnant women should avoid travel to the affected regions.

Researchers have warned Zika could be linked with microcephaly, a condition causing children to be born with abnormally small brains and skulls.

There are now no reports of Zika virus being locally transmitted by mosquitoes in the continental U.S. However, imported cases could potentially spread because the same type of mosquitoes that can transmit the virus live in parts of the U.S., primarily in Southern states.

The World Health Organization has declared the Zika virus an global emergency, clearing the way to mobilize funds for research and escalate efforts to fight the virus, which is exploding in Latin America.

Dallas was also the site of the first US case of Ebola in a man who had traveled from Liberia in 2014. Health officials and Thompson noted that sexual partners can protect themselves by using condoms to prevent spreading sexually transmitted infections. “It is generally spread to mosquitoes that are exclusive to fairly tropical zones”, she told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

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

Back in 2008 there was a similar situation, but it was never confirmed like the Dallas case.

The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes.

The CDC hasn’t confirmed that Zika is transmittable through sex nor that it isn’t.

Humans pick up the Zika virus from mosquitoes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. That brings the number of Florida cases to nine total, none of them in pregnant women.

Special care to avoid mosquito bites should be taken and any symptoms should be reported for up to 14 days after return.