Brazilian health institute says discovered Zika in saliva, urine
“Men who either live in or travel to active Zika transmission area and who have a pregnant sex partner should either correctly use condoms during sex or abstain from sex during the rest of the pregnancy”, urged Frieden.
Scott asked the CDC for at least 1,000 Zika “antibody tests”, which his office said would help with testing people who have traveled to affected areas and show signs of the illness.
While the alert is focused on pregnant women, the CDC is also making sure men who travel to Zika-prone areas are aware that they can pass it on by having sex with their partner. The primary concern of public health officials is that the virus may be linked with a serious birth defect called microcephaly if the mother is infected during pregnancy.
“The science is not clear on how long the risk should be avoided”, CDC officials said in a statement.
Zika virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and for most people, it will only cause a mild illness. If he is showing symptoms, Public Health England says, his partner should avoid pregnancy for six months after his recovery. Experts say the best way to stop its spread is to controlling the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever.
“This needs to be further investigated to understand the conditions and how often or likely sexual transmission is…This is the only the second mooted case of sexual transmission”, World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters.
Brazil, the country hardest hit by Zika, is grappling with the virus even as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
It is believed to be the first time health officials have directly blamed the mosquito-borne disease for causing fatalities.
The suspected link appears “stronger and stronger” as researchers study whether there is a causal connection, the director of the CDC said on Friday. Last year, no locally acquired cases of chikungunya were reported, though 73 people picked up the virus while traveling. The virus is found in saliva and semen and, in rare cases, can be transmitted sexually. Thousands of babies have been born in Zika-affected regions with the birth defect microcephaly (although a causal relationship has not yet been scientifically established).
Commenting on the transmission of the Zika virus, several health officials said that the virus could be present in non-transmissible form or in such low amounts that could make transmission unlikely.
The virus is thought to remain in an infected person’s blood for a week or less.