Brazilian lab detects Zika in saliva, urine

He said that calls for special precaution to be taken with pregnant women, and suggested they avoid kissing people other than a regular partner or sharing cutlery, glasses and plates with people who have symptoms of the virus. Health officials there reported that a patient had been infected through having sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela, one of the countries with a Zika outbreak. The illness, while generally not life-threatening, has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil-Brazil’s top research institute said Friday that Zika has been detected in urine and saliva, but added that there is no proof the virus can be transmitted through those fluids.

“There is a lot that we don’t know about this virus and I think that’s obviously stoking some fears as well”, said Chris Van Deusen, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the microcephaly condition, linked to the mosquito-borne virus, a global public health emergency.

“We’re still learning more about [the virus in] saliva and how it works in the body”, CDC director Tom Frieden told the Washington Post.

Officials believe the patients contracted the virus through mosquito bites during their travels.

Men with a pregnant partner who live in or have traveled to an area of active Zika transmission and their partner should consistently and correctly use condoms during sex or abstain for the duration of the pregnancy, the CDC said.

The new warnings on intimate contact highlight how little is known about Zika, a virus that was first identified in Africa in 1947 but had been considered relatively mild until the current eruption of apparent complications.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed that the Zika (ZEE’-kuh) virus is still mainly spread by mosquito bites. The CDC is now telling doctors to test the women for Zika between two and 12 weeks after they get back to the U.S., Frieden said.

The World Health Organisation said the Zika virus is spreading explosively. Guidance for pediatricians treating infants whose mothers may have been infected with Zika virus has not changed. I wish we could do more about Zika today. “Women should be able to have an abortion if they want”.