Unique Zika case of Utah caregiver under investigation

A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the case and testing people who came in contact with the recovered Utah man. Results are not yet available.

Zika in Utah has sparked a mystery: An individual who cared for a deceased man with the virus now has been diagnosed with it as well, reported the Salt Lake Tribune, but without being exposed in any of the known ways.

The Bureau for Public Health is not releasing additional information, to protect the patient’s privacy.

Officials said that the elderly man, travelled to a place where Zika is circulating and was most likely infected there.

The World Health Organization (WHO) labels Zika as a global health emergency and estimates that 3-4 million Americans may be affected this year. Officials are trapping mosquitoes in Utah to test them, though the species that spread the disease don’t usually live in the state’s high altitude and cold winters.

The CDC, however, has not revised its advice to healthcare workers or caregivers in the light of the new case.

The Utah Department of Health said it does not know how the caregiver, a family member of the patient, was infected with the Zika virus. There’s no evidence yet that the Zika infection in this case is an unusual mutation, but researchers are exploring that possibility through genomic analysis.

Typically, the Zika virus doesn’t cause serious illness. But during recent outbreaks in Latin America, scientists discovered that infection during pregnancy has led to severe brain-related birth defects.

As of mid-July, US health officials have reported 1,306 cases of Zika in the continental United States and Hawaii. There have been no cases of mosquitoes transmitting the disease in the U.S., ABC News reports.

Some countries have cautioned against pregnant women from traveling to South American countries where the virus is prevalent right now; moreover, Zika can also hide in semen so sexually active couples are also at risk of passing Zika onto children they may have.

However, 14 patients had not traveled to Zika zones but had sex with someone who had, the CDC said.