Zika outbreak will worsen before it gets better, WHO head says

United States health officials on Tuesday said they were investigating 14 more new reports of the Zika virus possibly being transmitted by sex, including two pregnant women.

Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong announced the cases Wednesday in his daily Zika update. There have been no locally acquired cases of Zika in Florida.

The chances of pregnant women getting Zika where mosquitoes potentially carrying the virus are being sprayed in central Queensland is “very, very low”, the state’s health body says.

All of the cases involve the possible transmission of the virus to a female who hadn’t traveled from a male sexual partner who had recently traveled to an area where Zika was spreading through mosquitoes.

Although sexual transmission of Zika is possible, health officials said that the main cause of Zika is still from mosquito bites.

Capt. Jennifer McQuiston, Deputy Incident Manager for the CDC’s Zika response, says she expects more cases of sexual transmission in the next few months. If you have plans to travel to areas where Zika virus is present, take precautions to prevent mosquito bites. In May of 2015, Brazil reported the first cases of Zika virus in the Americas. This includes several pregnant women. This implies that the Zika virus not only was transmitted sexual, but its transmission happed before symptoms.

Officials aren’t releasing what counties the women are from or any other information out of respect for their privacy.

The CDC’s earlier recommendation was that women delay pregnancy and men use contraceptives for at least one month. It is not typically serious for people who contract it, mainly consisting of mild symptoms like fever, rash, joint pain and red, itchy eyes.

“The benefits of breastfeeding for the infant and mother outweigh any potential risk of Zika virus transmission through breast milk”, World Health Organization said. The number of Zika cases among travelers returning to the US will likely increase as the outbreak continues.

The agency reiterated its call for people to use condoms or practice abstinence when living in or traveling to the more than 20 nations and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean affected by the Zika virus.

“They discarded the fetal remains that were indispensable to diagnose or rule out Zika and the link with microcephaly and other abnormalities”.