First case of sexually transmitted Zika virus seen in France

USA health authorities Friday described the cases of nine pregnant women who contracted the Zika virus while traveling, two of whom chose abortion and one who gave birth to a baby with microcephaly.

The CDC said the Zika outbreak in Brazil is “dynamic” and that it will continue to monitor the situation and will adjust these recommendations as needed. But the CDC said it had been tracking nine pregnant women who did test positive for Zika, and their varied experiences highlight the angst and uncertainty accompanying the virus’s rapid spread, particularly concerns over severe birth defects associated with the illness.

Zika causes headaches, fever and a rash, though most people with the virus never show symptoms. Since the symptoms may not be severe, some people may not know that they have been infected with the virus.

Last week, health officials revealed Iowa’s first case, a woman between the ages of 61 and 80 who recently had traveled to Central America. In all of these cases, sexual contact occurred shortly before a male partner became symptomatic, according to the CDC.

At this point, the CDC says males concerned about the potential for transmission should avoid unprotected sex, but it does not provide a time limit. As for the rest, the Zika virus was concluded to have been acquired locally. That’s to prevent mosquitoes from biting them and possibly spreading Zika to others in the U.S. The type of mosquito that spreads Zika is in parts of the South.

Martinique and French Guiana have declared an epidemic with more than 6,000 suspected cases, including at least 38 pregnant women and five people with Guillain-Barre.

“Contraceptive acts are intrinsically immoral and contrary to these great goods”, the ethics body said in its commentary. No instances of direct transmission via mosquito have yet taken place in the United States.

For more information on Zika virus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It’s a fairly tractable problem compared to some of the other things that we work on”, said Michael Farzan, a virologist at Scripps Florida, where a Zika team is studying the possibility of a vaccine or an injectable antibody that could block the virus. The CDC also recommends pregnant women postpone travel to Zika-affected regions.

Zika’s a mosquito-borne virus, spread as female Aedes mosquitos sip blood from one person after another, often in the same room.

In this February 24, 2016 photo, a Puerto Rico’s Health Department worker reviews Zika related data collected by the island’s health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in San Juan, Puerto Rico….

Puerto Rico has roughly half the total for the United States and its territories, with 117 known diagnosed cases reported.

At least one of two women who terminated their pregnancy did so after brain abnormalities were detected, CDC officials said Friday, while two other pregnancies ended spontaneously in the first trimester.