US Health Agency Adds 2 Island Nations to Zika Travel Warning List

Health officials are investigating 14 possible new cases of sexually transmitted Zika virus – including several cases in pregnant women, it has emerged.

All of the newly-reported cases of sexual transmission have been in the US.

In two of the suspected cases, the infection has been confirmed in women whose only known risk factor was sexual contact with an ill male partner who had recently traveled to an area where the virus is present, the agency said.

According to the CDC, all 14 of the new cases being reviewed involve women in the US who had sex with men who traveled to infected areas.

To be clear, the primary method of Zika virus transmission is still overwhelmingly through the bite of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the 34 outbreak-affected countries and states, most of which are in the Americas and the Caribbean.

The Zika virus is typically not risky to the average person: only about one in five people ever experience symptoms. The normally mild virus has been linked with a serious birth defect called microcephaly and a neurological condition, Guillain-Barre syndrome. “With these new suspected cases that we’re investigating, we’re really becoming aware that sexual transmission might happen more often than previously thought”, she said.

Men with a pregnant sex partner who have traveled or live in areas where the virus is being locally transmitted should consistently and correctly use condoms or abstain from sex during the pregnancy.

The new cases include two pregnant women, notable since Zika has been linked to microcephaly in newborns – abnormally small heads and developmental delays.

Zika virus can be spread by a man to his sex partners. The first known case of sexual transmission of the Zika virus was occurred in 2008, when a microbiologist from Colorado State University returned from Senegal, reunited with his wife and infected her with the virus. “However, we should still focus on Zika spreading through mosquitos”.

McQuiston said while these recommendations would also protect women who are not pregnant, the reason for CDC’s concern is the “increasing evidence” linking Zika infections to birth defects.

All involve men who had traveled to countries with active Zika transmission and who had become sick upon their return. That development could further complicate efforts to stop the spread of Zika, as well as force couples to contemplate abstaining from sex or using protective measures to prevent transmission, particularly when a woman is pregnant.

But with Zika, right now the only way the virus is getting to unaffected countries like the U.S.is in the bodies of travelers. Zika virus tends to persist for about a week in blood, but it’s unclear how long it persists in other bodily fluids like semen or saliva.