Brazil health official confirm Zika spread via transfusion

In newly issued guidelines about sexual transmission of the disease. official said men who have traveled to Zika-infected countries should use condoms or abstain from sex for the duration of their partner’s pregnancy.

Mr Hilton said the World Health Organization had not banned travel because of Zika, though pregnant women have been advised not to travel to Zika areas.

“The science is not clear on how long the risk should be avoided”, the CDC said.

The WA Department Health said this afternoon that an adult who recently returned from central America had been diagnosed with Zika virus infection. One cases from this year involved a women who is pregnant.

The virus is predominantly spread through mosquitoes in Brazil.

There is now no vaccine to prevent the Zika virus, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends preventing contraction of the disease by avoiding mosquito bites.

Brazilian officials say they suspect Zika is behind a seemingly unusual number of microcephaly cases, in which children are born with unusually small heads.

“The Zika infection is only transmitted via Aedes mosquitoes and not by human-to-human contact, except possibly, very rarely, by sexual means”, Dr Weeramanthri said. Meanwhile, officials in Texas have reported the first case of the virus contracted in the United States, saying it was sexually transmitted.

Pregnant women and their male sex partners should discuss the male partner’s potential exposures and history of Zika-like illness with the pregnant woman’s health care provider. Guidance for pediatricians treating infants whose mothers may have been infected with Zika virus has not changed. In one study, researchers found that the virus may have been present in a man’s semen for up to 10 weeks after he got sick. And when they harbor diseases, a little-known virus can suddenly turn into a global concern.

The CDC website now lists 30 countries and territories where active Zika virus transmission is taking place.