Experts fear the Zika virus, which has actually been linked to brain damage in unborn babies, might be transmitted through sex.
Zika is known to be spread by mosquitos bites and has actually spread quickly through Brazil and various other South American countries because late 2015.
While it manifests itself as a relatively harmless fever in most patients, it has actually likewise been linked to a spike in microcephaly – a condition causing babies to appear to have actually shrunken heads.
Health officials across the world have actually warned pregnant women in affected South American countries to take precaution to protect themselves from mosquito bites, along with some advising women to put off becoming pregnant.
However, two cases of the virus in medical literature suggest that Zika could likewise be spread through throughout sex, prompting experts to call for further investigation in to the possibility.
The just known cases of the virus being detected in a man’s semen involved a 44-year-old Tahitian man that contracted Zika throughout a drink to French Polynesia in 2013, The Brand-new York Times reported.
While his blood was clear, French investigators discovered traces of the virus in his semen and his urine.
The second case was that of Dr Brain D Foy, an expert in insect-borne diseases at Colorado State University, that unwittingly made the virus after he travelled to Senegal to collect mosquitos for a study. The 2 he and his colleague that accompanied your man fell ill along with a fever as quickly as he returned to the US.
Days later, Dr Foy’s wife, a nurse, displayed similar symptoms including headache pains, a rash, and bloodshot eyes.
However, exactly what had infected the three was unclear after the blood samples tested for malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever returned negative.
On the idea of one more scientist, Dr Foy had the blood samples re-tested and discovered that he and his colleague, too as his wife that had remained in the US, had been infected by Zika.
Dr Foy relayed his experience of the virus in the diary ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases’.
Research in to Zika is further complicated by the reality that it does not infect common lab pets such as rats and mice, meaning controversial trials on monkeys could have to be used to investigate the condition.
Dr. William Schaffner, chief of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School told The Brand-new York Times that while two suspected cases do not warrant a Healthiness warning from public Healthiness officials, he said: “it undoubtedly ought to be studied.”
Battling the zika virus – in pictures
However, the globe Healthiness Organisation has actually sought to quell fears and said that
“Zika has actually been isolated in human semen, and one case of feasible person-to-individual sexual transmission has actually been described” however added: “a lot more evidence is called for to confirm whether sexual contact is a means of Zika transmission.”
“The role of Aedes mosquitoes in transmitting Zika is documented and well understood, while evidence regarding various other transmission routes is limited,” it said.
Health officials at the US Centers for health problem Regulate and Prevention have actually also said the 2 apparent instances are a “theoretical risk” and there is insufficient evidence to issue a warning regarding any sort of concern that the virus might be spread through sex.
Dr Márcio Nehab, a paediatrician and infectious health problem specialist at the Fiocruz research institute in Rio de Janeiro said that researchers ought to focus their efforts on mosquitoes.
“We still reason a great deal of study to conclude that sexual transmission can easily happen since little is known regarding the Zika virus.
“At the moment, we have actually to care a lot more regarding the known vector, which is the mosquito, as the virus transmission route,” he said according to MailOnline.
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