CDC steps up warnings about sexual transmission of Zika virus

Pregnant women who are not experiencing symptoms consistent with Zika virus can be tested when they begin prenatal care.

JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images The virus’ illness is generally mild and 4 out of 5 people infected with Zika don’t realize it.

An explosion of cases across Brazil and Latin America has prompted warnings against travel by pregnant women to the region and is even raising fears that travel to the Olympics, due to be held this August in Rio, will be disrupted.

Also on Friday, Brazilian researchers reported that they have found the “active” presence of the Zika virus in saliva and urine samples, raising the possibility that the infection could be spread via kissing.

Also, on Tuesday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Dallas Health Department confirmed that someone got infected by intercourse with another who had traveled in a Zika-infected country.

The virus, spread by mosquitoes, is not fatal but it has been linked to microcephaly, where babies’ heads fail to develop properly in the womb, leaving them brain damaged, and to Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS).

“In this sense, preventive measures already known for other diseases require a more cautious look from now on, especially in the case of contact with pregnant women”.

It said two more patients were in Catalonia, two in Castile and Leon, one in Murcia and one in the capital Madrid.

Zika was previously thought to be only transmitted by mosquitoes, but cases have also included blood transfusion and sexual intercourse with an infected person.

Officials warned that the species of mosquito most commonly associated with transmission of Zika – the aedes mosquito – is not now active in New York City or the surrounding areas.

However he says that the discovery calls for special precaution to be taken with pregnant women.

Rockland has joined the global health emergency that is the Zika virus.

A pregnant Spanish woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus in what is thought to be one of the first cases in Europe.

On Friday, the CDC issued new recommendations to those who have traveled to Zika-prone areas: Use condoms during sex or don’t have sex.