CDC confirms case of Zika sexual transmission between two men
The CDC has confirmed an example that men can contract the Zika virus through unprotected sex with men.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC), said on Thursday that experts had made the discovery about how the virus can be transmitted.
One case of transmission occurred in Dallas in January, said the CDC. The case was reported in mainstream media, as it was only the second case of Zika being transmitted through sexual contact.
The warning from the CDC states that both men and women can contract Zika through unprotected anal sex.
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The CDC’s division of HIV prevention’s Dr John Brooks said the case doesn’t change the guidelines previously issued on the transmission of the Zika virus.
He said the case does give scientists an example, saying: “It’s not just theoretical. It’s happened.”
Dr Brooks said the issue needs to be investigated more thoroughly.
Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, added: “The take-home message is you have to consider any kind of intimate contact between an infected person with Zika and a non-infected person as a potential risk situation, regardless of gender.”
Osterholm went on to add that it is unclear whether kissing or oral sex can transmit Zika.
“Were saliva an important mode of transmission, my expectation would be that we would have seen the epidemiology of cases evolve differently,” Dr Brooks said.
“We’re just not getting a signal.”
Cases of sexual transmission of Zika have been seen seven times in the US since the virus outbreak began in the Americas.
Argentina, Chile, France Italy and New Zealand have noted sexual transmission cases.