HEALTH OFFICIALS confirm that the Zika virus has been transmitted through sexual contact between two people in the Dalls area, the first such case of the illness being spread in the US amid the outbreak in Latin America
A person in Texas has become infected with the Zika virus through sex, the first case of the illness being transmitted inside the United States, health officials confirmed Tuesday.
Dallas County health officials said the unidentified patient had sexual contact with an infected individual who had returned from Venezuela and fallen ill with Zika. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement saying lab tests confirmed the non-traveling patient was infected with the virus.
“Now that we know Zika virus can be transmitted through sex, this increases our awareness campaign in educating the public about protecting themselves and others,” Zachary Thomson, director of DCHHS, said in a statement. “Next to abstinence, condoms are the best prevention method against any sexually transmitted infections.”
The virus, which has been linked to birth defects in the Americas, is primarily spread through mosquito bites, but investigators had been exploring the possibility it could be sexually transmitted. There was a report of a Colorado researcher who picked up the virus in Africa and apparently spread it to his wife back home in 2008, and it was found in one man's semen in Tahiti.
Post A Comment:
0 comments: