And yet more, the CDC catches up to Brazil about the birth defects:
It's Official: Zika Virus Causes Birth Defects.
Toward the bottom of it, I see:
Quote:
And there's more evidence that Zika can be passed person to person, and not only through mosquito bites. The CDC's confirmed sexual transmission of Zika and now tells pregnant women to use condoms when having sex if their partner has been to a Zika-affected area.
In a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, French doctors reported on a case of sexual transmission of the virus last February, after a man traveled to Rio de Janeiro, got infected, and then had sex with a woman in France after he got better.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that transmission occurred not through semen but through other biologic fluids, such as pre-ejaculate secretions or saliva exchanged through deep kissing," Dr. Eric D'Ortenzio of France's INSERM national research institute and colleagues wrote.
Zika's been found in saliva, and the team said people need to be warned that there's a possibility they could catch it that way, they said.
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I searched and in a moment found
Evidence of Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus from the NEJM actually published on April 13. Funny how our 24-hour news cycle seems to miss things and catch up later or at a more newsworthy moment (such as the disagreement over Zika funding).
What NBC didn't go into in detail about
:
Quote:
Patient 1 reported sexual contact between February 11 and February 20, 2016, with a man (Patient 2, the index patient) who had stayed in Brazil from December 11, 2015, through February 9, 2016. The sexual contact involved seven episodes of both vaginal sexual intercourse, without ejaculation and without the use of a condom, and oral sex with ejaculation.
Patient 2, a 46-year-old man, reported fever, asthenia, myalgia, chills, and a cutaneous rash that began on February 7, while he was in Rio de Janeiro. The symptoms had resolved on the day he arrived in France on February 10. The clinical examination of Patient 2 was normal on February 23.
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If I read this correctly:
- The man was asymptomatic - no more signs of Zika - when they had sex, although he recently had been sick.
- He may have had pre-cum in her vagina but came only in her mouth.
- There's that unconfirmed "possibility" about saliva.
I'm wondering how long after Zika symptoms go away someone might still be capable of infecting someone else. I'm also wondering if Zika might remain latent in the body and have other consequences later (as jonn3 said, "long-term effects.") And I imagine researchers will look at this if they have the funds.