Doctors are now recommending that anyone who has traveled to an area affected by the Zika outbreak and who wants to start a family should reconsider doing so for at least six months after travel.
Warning that the Zika virus persists in semen longer than in blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday issued new guidelines regarding sexual activity . Though it is primarily transmitted by bites from mosquitoes commonly found in Georgia and the Southern U.S., Zika is also passed along through sexual contact by semen. In tests, the virus has persisted in semen for 62 days after the onset of the virus, which is long after it is undetectable in blood, the CDC reported Friday.
"We previously focused on women who were already pregnant," said Dr. Denise Jamieson, one of the doctors leading the CDC's pregnancy and birth defects team as part of it's Zika response. "Now this is concerning women who want to get pregnant."
Researchers are still trying to figure out whether Zika lasts longer than two months in semen, but because the virus is believed to cause severe birth defects in fetuses at any stage of development, the CDC on Friday issued it’s most stringent guidelines yet on sexual contact.
Men who have traveled to or who live in regions where a Zika outbreak is present should not have sex without a condom, with any sexual partner, for six months if they have had any symptoms related to Zika, health officials said. Those symptoms include fever, sore joints, skin rash and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The condom requirement goes for all types of sexual activity, vaginal, oral or anal.
Yet, the majority of people who have Zika are asymptomatic. In those instances, for men who have had no symptoms of Zika, but who have traveled to a region in the midst of an outbreak, they should not have unprotected sex for at least eight weeks, the CDC said.
Similarly, women who have had Zika symptoms after traveling to an area with Zika should not try to get pregnant for at least six months after the onset of symptoms. That area now spans from Mexico to Puerto Rico to Brazil. Even if no symptoms are present, if a woman has been to any of those 39 countries or territories she should wait at least eight weeks before getting pregnant and even then should consult with her family doctor.
Seven cases of Zika have been confirmed in Georgia. All are travel related, state health officials said.
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