CDC: 14 new reports of possible sexually transmitted Zika virus

The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has said it is investigating 14 new reports of possible sexual transmission of the Zika virus. Four other women have initially tested positive for the virus and are awaiting further results, and eight women are under investigation.

The Centers for Disease Control is investigating 14 new cases of zika in the United States.

The new cases, like the previously reported ones, involve possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners.

In both cases the male partner had recently traveled to an area where the Zika virus is present, the agency said.

The women are given an extensive questionnaire touching on everything from whether they used mosquito repellent during pregnancy to where they got their drinking water to how much the family makes.

The Dallas case marked the first report of local transmission in the United States. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots.

Chan said Brazil’s government is doing all it can to mobilize Brazilian society in fighting the “formidable” Aedes mosquito that transmits the virus that has spread rapidly through the Americas since previous year.

The advice either to abstain from sex or use latex condoms during sex is now being given to all pregnant women whose male partners have been to Zika-affected countries.

The Zika virus primarily is spread to humans through mosquitoes but in rare cases has been transmitted through sexual contact and blood transfusions. “Research is now underway to answer this question as soon as possible”. Eighty percent of infected people never have symptoms. But sexual transmission of Zika has been reported in a few previous cases, and the virus has been found to persist in semen long after a man has recovered from the infection.

While the mosquito-borne virus causes only a mild illness that passes quickly, it can confer lifelong damage on a developing fetus.

The WHO says because no big Zika outbreaks were recorded before 2007, little is known about complications caused by infection.

For now, the teams are venturing through some of the poorest neighborhoods of the capital, where families cohabitants with the Zika-spreading Aedes aegypti mosquito and eke by on just a couple hundred dollars a month.

All involve men who had traveled to countries with active Zika transmission and who had become sick upon their return. This includes any history of Zika-like infection.