CDC probing 14 new reports of Zika sexual transmission

Brazilian experts say this suggests the virus can infect the foetus. In addition to the confirmed cases, the CDC has preliminary test results on four women and the remaining eight cases are in varying degrees of investigation. This includes any history of Zika-like infection.

The public health body made the revelation as it published new guidance on sexual transmission of the virus.

(AP Photo/Andre Penner). Pediatrician Alexia Harrist from the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), right, says goodbye to Janine Santos, mother of Shayde Henrique who was born with microcephaly, after she examined the child…

Illness with the virus is usually mild and short-lived, but it’s the possible connections to a neurological condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome and to a congenital condition known as microcephaly that are worrisome.

Fourteen more people may have caught the Zika virus in the US without traveling to affected zones, federal health officials said Tuesday – strong evidence that the virus is sexually transmitted fairly often.

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 to those areas.

They also advise men concerned about the Zika virus to consider using condoms or abstaining from sex, even if their partners are not pregnant.

Countries throughout the region have launched massive operations to eliminate pools of stagnant water where the mosquitoes, which also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses, can breed.

Aside from that one case, there was a handful of historic examples of sexual transmission.

The first known sexually transmitted infection of Zika virus to take place in the U.S.occurred in Texas in early February.

“We’ll do so cooperating on vaccine development, and in collecting data and information that can help identify the precise link between the Zika virus and microcephaly”.

“This is a rare event, but transmission through sex is possible in certain circumstances …”

“I want to reassure you that the government is working very closely with the global Olympic movement, with the local organising committee, supported by the World Health Organization, to make sure we have a very good work plan to target the mosquito, and to make sure that people who will come here either as visitors or athletes will get the maximum protection they need”, Chan said. That same mosquito is found in the Southern U.S. and officials expect they will eventually spread the virus, too.

That case was linked to sexual contact with an infected partner. Scientists warns Zika’s future spread will be unpredictable.