The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, have confirmed that Zika virus can be transmitted through sexual intercourse.
This came after the first case of locally acquired Zika in the continental United States was announced by Dallas County health officials on Tuesday, which involved a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela infected with the mosquito-borne virus.
The CDC, in a statement to CNN, said it confirmed the test results showing Zika present in the blood of a ‘non-traveler in the continental United States’, stressing that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance.
It said based on that, it will soon provide guidance on sexual transmission, with a “focus on the male sexual partners of women who are or who may be pregnant.”
“The patient was infected with the virus after having sexual contact with an ill individual who returned from a country where Zika virus is present.”
Until now, data available on the virus which has fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis as symptoms and has more devastating effect in pregnant women, show that it is spread to people through Aedes mosquitoes’ bites.
CDC Director Tom Frieden told CNN in a health alert that, “There have been isolated cases of spread through blood transfusion or sexual contact and that’s not very surprising. The virus is in the blood for about a week. How long it would remain in the semen is something that needs to be studied and we’re working on that now.
“Studies on sexual transmission are not easy studies to do, but the CDC is continuing to explore that avenue of transmission.
“What we know is the vast majority of spread is going to be from mosquitoes. The bottom line is mosquitoes are the real culprit here,” Frieden added.
“Sexual partners can protect each other by using condoms to prevent spreading sexually transmitted infections. People who have Zika virus infection can protect others by preventing additional mosquito bites.”
It would be recalled that last week, the Federal Government had alerted Nigerians about the outbreak of Zika virus infection, with directive that the citizens, especially pregnant women, should be restricted from traveling to Latin America until the situation improves.
The government directed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to include Zika virus diagnosis as part of the ongoing efforts to manage Lassa fever outbreak in the country, adding that anyone coming from any of the Latin American countries should be interviewed at the various points of entry to ascertain Zika virus symptoms.
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