Brazil finds active Zika virus in urine, saliva

The guidance comes three days after Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) in Texas announced that a local patient had become ill with the virus after having sex with an infected traveler who had recently returned from Venezuela, a country with Zika activity.

Thursday’s announcement came only hours after The Associated Press revealed that global health officials were frustrated at Brazil’s refusal to share enough viral samples and other information to answer the most worrying question about the outbreak: Whether the disease is truly causing a spike in babies born with abnormally small heads. In Brazil, there have been 500,000-plus cases.

The CDC describes the Aedes mosquito as aggressive, attacking at all hours, and one that can bite five or more people in a single feeding, leaving only a tiny sting that victims barely notice.

Pregnant women without symptoms of Zika infection can be offered testing two to 12 weeks after coming home from Zika-affected areas. Organizers of the Games said on Tuesday they were concerned by the rapid spread of Zika, but had not seen evidence of people cancelling travel.

United States health authorities on today urged people to use condoms or refrain from sex if they live in or have traveled to areas where the Zika virus is circulating.

Obstetricians have said that since 80 percent of those infected by the virus show no symptoms, many women have no way of knowing early enough to make an informed choice about their unborn child. “For those who with symptoms, they are usually mild and gone within a week”. CDC researchers are looking into a possible link between the virus and unborn babies exposed during pregnancy.

Meanwhile in Brazil, the nation’s top research institute said that Zika has been detected in urine and saliva, but added that there was no proof the virus could be transmitted through those fluids.

But it doesn’t necessarily mean you can get sick from contact with an infected person’s saliva or urine, Gupta said.

“It was known that the virus could be present in both urine and saliva. This is the first time we’ve demonstrated that the virus is active [in those fluids], with the potential to cause infection”, Fiocruz researcher Myrna Bonaldo said.