Over mounting concerns of sexual transmission, CDC issues new Zika guidelines

As the number of cases of sexually transmitted Zika infections in the United States continues to rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta has issued new guidelines for having sex for people who know or suspect they may have been infected with the virus.

According to philly.com, the intent of the new guidelines is to provide physicians with the best possible advice to share with their patients when it comes to planning a pregnancy or having unprotected sex.

Dr. Denise Jamieson, co-lead of the Pregnancy and Birth Defects Team of the CDC’s Zika Virus Response Team, commented on the virus in a new conference, saying, “Mounting evidence supports a link between Zika and microcephaly, and possibly other problems such as miscarriage.  The rate of these conditions is not known yet.  We know there is a risk, but it is important to remember that even in places with active Zika transmission women are delivering apparently healthy infants.”

The Zika virus has been associated with a severe birth defect called microephaly, which causes a newborn baby’s head to be smaller than normal, and thousands of cases have been reported, mainly in Brazil.  Though the majority of the infections leading to microephaly seem to occur in the pregnant females, a number of cases have been found to be associated with transmission of the virus through sexual contact with an infected male.

The CDC noted there are currently six cases in the US that are infections confirmed to be associated with sexual contact, and according to one report, the virus can live in semen for up to over 60 days after experiencing the symptoms of the Zika infection.

A Zika infection is normally a mild illness in adults and many who are infected may not even know they have the virus.  Because of the risk to pregnant women and their unborn children, the CDC is advising that men who know or suspect they may have been infected refrain from having sex, or at the very least, use a condom.

The guidelines also recommend couples refrain from sex, or use condoms, throughout the duration of a pregnancy, for eight weeks after a man who has traveled to a Zila-endemic area but is not showing a sign of the infection, and for couples living in Zika-endemic areas to refrain from sex or use a condom for as long as the virus transmission persists in the area.

The agency also recommends pregnant women to consider not traveling to areas where the Zika virus is prevalent, but if required, to take precautions to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes.