New York - The first case of female-to-male sexual transmission of the Zika virus has been confirmed in New York City.
Days after the first case of Zika-related death was documented in Utah and three months after the first death was reported in Puerto Rico, the case in New York City raises questions about how much the virus can spread beyond areas where Zika is already endemic and transmitted by mosquitoes.
“This represents the first reported occurrence of female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika virus,” said a report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City department of health and mental hygiene.
The woman in her 20s, who remains unidentified, had sex with her partner after returning from a country with the Zika virus. She reported having a headache and abdominal cramps at the airport before coming to New York. The next day she suffered from a fever, fatigue, a rash, back pain, swelling and numbness in her hands and feet. Blood and urine samples were analysed and found the woman had been newly infected with Zika.
A week after sexual intercourse, her partner, also in his 20s, developed a fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. He told health officials he had not been bitten by a mosquito in the past week, he had not travelled outside the US for the past year and had only had one encounter of vaginal intercourse without a condom with his female partner after she came back to New York.
In February, officials in Dallas confirmed the first case of the virus being contracted by male to female via sexual intercourse. A total of 11 counties have documented cases of man-to-woman sexual transmission, as reported by the New York Times.
Most people who contract Zika show no symptoms, but common side-effects include fever, joint ache and red eyes.
Zika can pose a serious risk to pregnant women, however, as their babies could suffer from microcephaly and be born with abnormally small heads and brain damage.
The virus is usually transmitted by a yellow fever mosquito, which thrives in warm climates. The CDC has noted that 1 130 people have been diagnosed with Zika in the continental US, including 320 pregnant women and 15 cases of sexual transmission.
Lawmakers failed this week to provide additional funding to fight Zika, which was first requested in February.
The Independent