CDC announces 14 new cases of Zika virus transmitted through sex

U.S. has commenced an investigation into the possible sexual transmission of Zika virus, Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said.

A list of areas with Zika virus transmission can be found on the CDC’s website and includes areas in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Pacific Islands and South America.

The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the fight against Zika, a mosquito-transmitted virus linked to serious birth defects, will be long and complex.

If sexual transmission turns out to be a relatively common mode of Zika transmission, the task of slowing the spread of the virus through the Americas will become all that much more hard, experts say.

In all of the events, the travelers were men who had recently traveled to an area with local Zika virus transmission and reported symptoms within two weeks before the non-traveling female partner’s symptoms began. Doctors are waiting on results from a more definitive test to confirm Zika infection.

A new alert from the CDC was released to serve as a “strong reminder” to the public the Zika virus can be be transmitted sexually and might “a more likely means of transmission for Zika virus than previously considered”, the CDC said.

There is no evidence at this point that women infected with Zika can transmit the virus to their sex partners, according to the CDC.

Illness with the virus is usually mild and short-lived, but it’s the possible connections to a neurological condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome and to a congenital condition known as microcephaly that are worrisome.

Countries throughout the region have launched massive operations to eliminate pools of stagnant water where the mosquitoes, which also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses, can breed.

For pregnant women, the CDC recommended that if a male partner has traveled to an area of active Zika transmission that couples use a condom correctly and consistently for the duration of the pregnancy, or that they abstain from sex entirely. However, the CDC said more research needs to be completed to understand the issue. His lab has since partnered with researchers in Brazil to study sexual transmission of Zika virus.

Sexual transmissions would represent a significant portion of U.S. Zika cases if all 14 are confirmed.

“There are a lot of things that have to happen for sexual transmission to occur”, Foy says.