The Latest Zika News Will Actually Leave You Feeling Hopeful

COLUMBUS — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) announced on Tuesday that it is investigating 14 new reports of possible sexual transmission of Zika virus in the US, including several involving pregnant women.

Most experts had believed that sexual transmission of Zika was rare, but the new alert suggests sexual transmission of Zika may be more of a factor than previously thought.

The mosquito-borne disease has been linked to – but not proven to cause – a severe birth defect in newborns. All the cases so far have been travel-related, but the virus can be spread by bites from mosquitoes that are common in Florida. The tests are not commercially available and show whether a person has ever been exposed to the Zika virus.

Citing privacy, the health department did not disclose the counties where the pregnant women live. There have been no reports of women transmitting Zika to male sex partners. His lab has since partnered with researchers in Brazil to study sexual transmission of Zika virus.

It said it has earlier this month published an interim recommendation for protecting people against sexual transmission of the Zika virus.

Jennifer McQuiston, deputy incident manager for the CDC, says of these findings, “As doctors become more aware of the sexual transmission risk, they will begin to test more and they will likely begin to find more”.

“This is a very new disease and we’re learning a lot about this in a very short time”, Dr. Albert Icksang Ko, Yale School of Public Health, told Medical Daily.

Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly.

“We had a meeting Wednesday morning and briefed our municipalities about the latest data on Zika Virus”, said Sharon Shaw, the director of the Angelina County & Cities Health District. Health officials expect the number of Zika cases among travelers returning to the U.S.to increase as the outbreak continues.

All of the women tested positive for the virus after traveling to countries where cases of Zika have been confirmed.

The Zika virus is primarily transmitted through bites from an infected Aedes mosquito, the same species that spread Chikungunya and Dengue fever.

In East Texas, health officials are starting to work with are government offices about how to handle the virus once it reaches the area. That’s to prevent mosquitoes from biting them and possibly spreading Zika to others in the U.S.