"Dallas County health officials say the patient acquired the virus via sexual contact".
"Although more than 40 cases of Zika virus have been carried to the U.S. by unwitting travelers, today officials in Dallas County, Texas, announced the country’s first case of local transmission in the ongoing outbreak.
The patient acquired the virus through sexual transmission, the Dallas County Health and Human Services department said after receiving confirmation of the infection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The newly infected individual had sex with a person who had acquired Zika virus while traveling outside of the U.S., it said.
Prior to this incident there had been one other documented case of apparent transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus via sexual contact in 2008 from Colorado State University biologist Brian Foy to his wife. Foy, who specializes in insect-borne diseases, contracted the virus in rural Senegal and a few days after he became ill his wife (who did not go on the trip) also became symptomatic with the disease."
Dina Fine Maron reports for Scientific American February 2, 2016.
SEE ALSO:
"Zika Virus Confirmed in Dallas County, Spread Through Sexual Contact: Dallas County Health" (NBC Dallas-Ft. Worth)
"Does the Zika Virus Cause Birth Defects?" (Wired)
"How Much Harm Can The Zika Virus Really Do?" (NPR)
"The Zika Cases in the United States" (Atlantic)
"What It’s Like To Live With Microcephaly, The Birth Defect Linked To Zika ’Emergency’" (Washington Post)
"Higher Temperatures Make Zika Mosquito Spread Disease More" (AP)
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