CDC probes possible sexually transmitted Zika cases

The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who many have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled.

The CDC is urging individuals to follow its previously issued guidance of abstinence or condom use for women, especially those who are pregnant, whose male sexual partners have traveled to a Zika-infected area.

The CDC said at this time there is no evidence that women can transmit the virus to their sexual partners.

The research confirmed the presence of Zika virus in the amniotic fluid of two women who had had Zika-like symptoms during their pregnancies.

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

Although the virus is overwhelmingly transmitted by mosquitoes that pick up infected blood from one human and transfer the virus to another, cases of sexually transmitted Zika have been documented in the past.

Mosquito bites remain the primary way the virus is spread, although sexual transmission from men to women is possible, the agency added.

Testing of the male partners is still pending, the CDC said.

All of the newly-reported cases of sexual transmission have been in the US. The World Health Organization now estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year. None of these included pregnant women and all were travel related.

The first case of Zika being sexually transmitted was confirmed in Dallas earlier this month. The CDC on Tuesday expanded its Zika travel advisory to two more places – the Marshall Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Experts nearly all agree that Zika is unlikely to spread much in the USA, 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.

They also note the microcephaly spike appears to be largely restricted to Brazil, with few cases reported in other countries with Zika outbreaks, such as neighboring Colombia. As the survey indicates, clear communication of the best science remains key to avoid misinformation and hysteria when it comes to Zika and any similar situations in the future.

Research is underway in Brazil to confirm the suspected link to microcephaly, with initial findings expected within months, according to public health officials.

How does this virus spread? “But we don’t yet have mosquito-borne transmission [in the U.S.], so the sexual transmission cases are coming to our attention”.