Pregnant Women Given Sex Guidelines by CDC Due to Zika Virus Risk

“That fact that the virus was found with the capacity to cause infection is not proof that it can contaminate other people through those fluids”, said Myrna Bonaldo, one of the scientists who made the discovery.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the guidelines Friday, just days after two cases of Zika were reported in Texas – at least one of which involved passing the virus sexually.

In the USA, there have been about 50 cases of travelers diagnosed with the virus, including six pregnant women.

The main mode of Zika virus transmission remains mosquito bites; the insect picks up the disease from an infected person and then transmits it to a second person.

But as to how long such measures should be followed, the agency could not say.

“Given the complexity of unanswered questions on Zika and (associated) disease, our goal is to encourage all researchers to share their data ASAP”, the World Health Organization said on Twitter.

“I wish we knew more about Zika today”, CDC Director Tom Frieden told reporters. Her baby was born with microcephaly, the birth defect that has been linked to Zika.

Pregnant women who live where Zika transmission is active will have a risk of infection throughout the pregnancy, the guidance notes, and for those who develop Zika-like symptoms, testing is recommended during the first week of illness.

There is no vaccine for Zika virus. “Any persons concerned that they have been infected should contact their health care provider for evaluation”.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was asking governments in Zika-affected countries in Latin and South America to repeal any policies that break with worldwide standards and restrict access to sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion.

They said they used genetic testing to identify the virus in saliva and urine samples from two patients who had symptoms caused by Zika infection, and determined that the virus was active, meaning it had the potential to cause infection, scientists at the public Oswaldo Cruz Foundation said.

He urged pregnant women to take special precautions, stressing both the seriousness of the discovery and the reality that it was too soon to say how it could impact on the epidemic. This is of particular concern as mosquito season approaches across the Deep South. The virus is spread by two kinds of mosquitoes typically found in Georgia and the region.

Vasilakis cites four or five cases in Florida, in individuals returning mainly from Venezuela and Colombia.

In 2014, chikungunya (chih-kihn-GUHN’-yuh), a virus spread by the same species of mosquito as Zika, infected a million people in the Caribbean.

They said this marked the first time the virus had been detected in either fluid.