Colombia blames 3 deaths on Zika, nerve disorder

The discovery opens “new paradigms for understanding the transmission routes of the Zika virus”, she said.

“But that does not mean there is a capacity for transmission through saliva and urine”. This adds to evidence from previous studies of a Zika outbreak in French Polynesia in 2013 and 2014 that also detected the virus in these bodily fluids.

It focused on ways to control the mosquito population spreading the virus, though reports of a U.S. patient catching the disease by having sex fuelled fears that it will not be easy to contain. Among them are 3,177 pregnant women.

The New York Times reported that Five Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Brazil and El Salvador, had advised women to delay pregnancy, although for different periods of time.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – The United Nations on Friday urged countries hit by the Zika virus to give women access to contraception and abortion, as health officials warned that sex or even kissing could potentially spread the disease.

Forbes reports findings of a research team from Brazil which claimed the virus is secreted while in the saliva and urine of an infected person. The illness, while generally not life-threatening, has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads.

Here is what we have recently learned – and what we still don’t know – about how Zika spreads. Hospitalization and death due to Zika are rare.

There are so far no recorded cases of Zika-linked microcephaly in Colombia, Santos said. “I understand that this is a stressful situation for women and families and particularly for women who are pregnant and what we are doing in our efforts is prioritizing all of the work we can do to protect pregnant women”, he said.

The National Conference of Bishops in Brazil, however, said that the World Health Organisation’s declaration this week that Zika was an worldwide emergency didn’t justify abortion.

Frieden emphasized that the primary way Zika spreads is by mosquito bites.

One of those is Colombia, where health officials announced Friday that three people had died of Guillain-Barre syndrome after contracting the Zika virus.

Researcher and molecular engineering lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast Joanne MacDonald said while Zika had been the subject of research for years, the current link to microcephaly was a “quite scary”.

USA health officials issued guidelines Friday to prevent the sexual transmission of the Zika virus, telling men who have been to outbreak areas to use condoms during sex with pregnant women.

This has raised concerns if kissing can spread the virus.