CDC investigates 14 new sexually transmitted Zika cases in US

Officials are now investigating 14 new reports of possible sexual transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For that reason, men with a pregnant partner who have traveled to a Zika area should be rigorous in their use of a condom during sex – or abstain from sex entirely, the CDC says.

For four additional suspected sexual transmission events, preliminary laboratory evidence (IgM antibody test) is available for the women, but confirmatory tests are pending.

Two of the cases are in women whose only known risk is sexual contact with a male partner exhibiting symptoms of the virus after returning from an infected area, according to the CDC.

The agency said there’s no evidence that women can spread the virus to their sex partners, but more research is needed.

Feb 23 The number of confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil associated with the Zika virus has risen to 4,690 from 4,443 a week earlier, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

If these cases are confirmed, it would mean that Zika can be transmitted via sex more easily than first thought. Zika is highly believed to be the cause of thousands of babies born with skull and brain defects in Latin America.

The public health body made the revelation as it published new guidance on sexual transmission of the virus.

Health officials are reminding men and women to take precautions.

Experts nearly all agree that Zika is unlikely to spread much in the US, in part because the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries it isn’t common except in parts of the far south and Hawaii, and also because Americans live indoors mostly, with air conditioning and little chance for the mosquitoes to live and breed inside homes. The CDC is also testing their male partners for signs of the mosquito-borne virus, but results are pending.

The Zika virus is typically not unsafe to the average person: only about one in five people ever experience symptoms.

Zika virus illness is usually mild. “The science is not clear on how long the risk should be avoided”, the agency said.

Pregnant women and their male sex partners should discuss the male partner’s potential exposures and history of Zika-like illness with the pregnant woman’s health care provider (http://www.cdc.gov/zika/symptoms/).

The CDC is looking into all 14 suspected transmissions. “If your partner is pregnant, you should either not have sex or use condoms the right way every time”.