A Georgia woman became the first person in the state to contract Zika through sexual transmission, the Georgia Department of Public Health announced Friday.
The woman had sexual contact with a male partner who had traveled to Brazil earlier this year, where he contracted Zika. He was one of the initial travel-related cases in the state, which saw its first case of the disease in February.
The unidentified man passed the virus on to his partner, though both of them no longer have an active case of the virus, the health department said in a statement. No further details were given about the woman or the man, other than the woman wasn't pregnant.
Zika is primarily transmitted by two types of mosquitoes found in Georgia, but the virus can also be sexually transmitted. Most people who get the disease show no symptoms, but they can still pass along the disease through sex. Since the outbreak began, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued increasingly stringent guidelines on sexual conduct after possible Zika exposure. Addressing the National Press Club on Thursday CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said researchers still don’t know how long the virus remains in semen. It appears to clear the blood in 10 days, but researchers are still investigating the time frame.
Because there are so many unknowns, the CDC advised those who've traveled to areas experiencing an outbreak to practice safe sex for at least six weeks after travel if they have no symptoms of the virus. Symptoms include rash, fever, conjunctivitis and joint pain. If they have had symptoms they should practice safe sex for eight weeks. Affected people also shouldn't try to conceive during those time frames. The virus causes microcephaly and other birth defects, as well as miscarriages and still births.
For these reasons, health officials have grown increasingly concerned about the threat posed by Zika. It's the first mosquito-borne virus known to cause birth defects. Last week the CDC announced that it is tracking the pregnancies of 279 U.S. women who have had Zika exposure.
The agency also recommends wearing insect repellent for three weeks after returning from an outbreak region. The list of affected countries grows each week, but so far, the mainland U.S. has been spared cases of local transmission.
Georgia has had at least 17 travel-related cases of the virus. Across the U.S., the number of cases is more than 500. The virus is wreaking havoc in Puerto Rico. It was responsible for the death of an elderly man there who appeared to have recovered from the virus, and it also caused a severe case of microcephaly in the fetus of a Puerto Rican woman. The woman terminated the pregnancy.
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