Caregiver gets Zika from man who died in medical mystery

In a written statement, the Utah Department of Health said the infected caregiver in the family “has not recently traveled to an area with Zika and has not had sex with someone who is infected with Zika or who has traveled to an area with Zika”.

In its fight to control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the Ministry of Health is continuing its series of islandwide town hall meetings aimed at sensitising the public and strengthening community intervention.

“We’re working with those who had close contact with the deceased patient and determining exactly what type of contact they had”, Dunn said.

So now officials are examining his family members as well. But how the caregiver contracted the infection remains a mystery.

In the Utah case, health officials are looking for other explanations. Fourteen have involved sexual transmission and one was the result of a laboratory exposure.

As of July 13, 1,306 cases of Zika have been reported in the continental USA and Hawaii, none of which have been the result of local spread by mosquitoes.

“This case is unusual, The individual does not have any of the known risk factors we’ve seen thus far with Zika virus”, health officer Gary Edwards from the Salt Lake County Health Department told reporters during a news conference. “Understanding how some viruses are able to do this is a very significant question and may be the most essential question for thinking about ways to protect the fetus when the mother gets infected”.

That would be a potentially ominous development in the unfolding epidemic.

Mosquitoes have spread the virus widely throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. In rare cases, infection leads to a potentially deadly complication called Guillain-Barre syndrome, in which the peripheral nervous system comes under attack, causing temporary partial paralysis.

The bite of a mosquito.

“Could it have been through another bodily fluid such as saliva?”

With Zika infection, as many as four out of five cases develop no symptoms; most would go undetected.

Still, no one is certain that the list of potential transmission sources is complete. But she said the “family contact” experienced a mild illness and has since fully recovered, like most people who are infected with Zika.

“We’re learning something new about Zika virus every day”, said Dr. Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who was in Utah to help with the investigation.

The tropical virus rarely spreads from person to person, not like the flu or the measles.

But in light of the new case, apparently, that can not yet be ruled out. The exact cause of his death has not been determined.

Now those in public health are testing others who cared for the elderly man and trapping mosquitoes in Utah to be absolutely certain they’re not spreading the virus. And investigators are testing mosquitoes in the area, although there’s no sign so far that any local insects are carrying the virus.

CDC team member Dr. Michael Bell, a medical epidemiologist, called it “extremely unlikely” that Zika could be spread through the air. The table is vast and we never want to underestimate possibilities.