Dallas County Health and Human Services announced today that a member of their community has contracted the Zika virus via a sexual encounter. This is the only the second-known case of Zika being sexually transmitted.
The individual, who hasn't been identified, had sexual contact with someone who had recently returned from a visit to a country with known Zika activity. He or she represents the seventh person in Harris County, Texas to be diagnosed with the virus. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the other six had recently traveled to a country with Zika. The laboratory results were confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Zika is typically transmitted by mosquito bite, but the virus can be found in the semen and urine of infected patients, so it was suspected to be sexually-transmissible. In a 2008 case reported by the CDC, a man returned home to Colorado after visiting Senegal, where Zika was present. He and his wife both came down with symptoms, although only he had been exposed to bites from Zika-bearing mosquitoes. Both were tested and came out positive for the virus.
The pathogen, which was discovered in the Zika Forest of Uganda in 1947, has recently exploded into international media due to a strongly-suspected link to microcephaly, a severe disability in infants, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare condition that may cause paralysis. Pregnant women have been advised not to visit any region where Zika virus is known to be present, though these warnings imply a risk of mosquito bite, rather than sexual transmission.
Pregnant women who are concerned about contracting Zika may use condoms to help prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections from partners with Zika symptoms. Condoms remain the best protection against STIs, second only to abstinence.
Yesterday, the WHO declared the Zika outbreak an international emergency, due mostly to its effect on pregnancies and link to GBS. Most people who contract Zika virus (and are not pregnant) will suffer no complications and show no symptoms. One in five infected people experience flu-like symptoms.
Photo: Rorro Navia | Flickr
