Health authorities now recommend that women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant avoid contact with semen from men who have visited areas where the virus is transmitted. In at least one case, a man who never had Zika symptoms transmitted it sexually. Scientists believe the prostate or testes serve as a reservoir, sheltering the Zika virus from the immune system. Viral RNA has been found in semen more than two months after symptoms disappeared. The Zika virus has clearly been transmitted by vaginal and anal sex, and possibly by oral sex. In all known cases as of late June, transmission has been from a man to a woman or to another man, not from a woman to anyone else. Has a Zika outbreak outside Brazil ever been linked to microcephaly?Īlthough experts believe that the vast majority of Zika infections are transmitted by mosquitoes, sexual transmission has been reported in 10 countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Italy and New Zealand. If the Zika virus has been in Africa and Asia for decades, why wasn’t a link to microcephaly detected earlier? 19. Is there a vaccine? How should people protect themselves? 18. How long until I can be sure that I won’t infect a sexual partner? 16. I’m a man and have returned from a place where the Zika virus is spreading. Does it matter when in her pregnancy a woman is infected with Zika virus? 14. If I live in an area where the virus is circulating, should I delay becoming pregnant? 13. I’m pregnant now, but wasn’t when I visited one of the affected countries. I’m of childbearing age, but not pregnant and not planning to get pregnant. I’m pregnant and live in or recently visited a country with Zika virus. How do I know if I’ve been infected? Is there a test? 9. What countries should pregnant women avoid? 8. How might Zika cause brain damage in infants? 6. Can the Zika virus be sexually transmitted? 5. Here are some answers and advice about the outbreak.ġ. In adults, the virus is linked to a form of temporary paralysis, called Guillain-Barré syndrome. The Zika virus has been linked to unusually small heads and brain damage in newborns - called microcephaly - in children born to infected mothers, as well as blindness, deafness, seizures and other congenital defects. All pregnant women who have been to these regions should be tested for the infection, health officials have said, and should refrain from unprotected sex with partners who have visited these regions. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women against travel to more than 45 countries in which the Zika virus is spreading, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America. In late July, Florida officials announced what appeared to be the first locally transmitted cases of Zika infection in the continental United States. The agency expects the virus to spread from northern Argentina to the southern United States by the end of the year, infecting many millions of people. ![]() The World Health Organization has declared an international health emergency over the spread of the Zika virus, now known to cause devastating birth defects.
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