The Dallas health services in Texas (USA) have confirmed through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the Zika virus has been transmitted through sexual contact. This is the first case of infection with the virus through sexual transmission.
According to data released by the Dallas County Health Department, the patient (who has not been revealed whether he is male or female) was infected after having sex with a sick individual who returned from a trip from one of the countries where the virus Zika is present.
The Zika virus, also known as ZIKV, has the same vector of dengue and the chikungunya virus, that is, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. In the United States, more than thirty cases of infection by the mosquito that carry the virus had already been recorded, but no case of contagion had yet been detected within the United States.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared the Zika virus a global health emergency, following the suspicion that the infection transmitted by mosquitoes could be related to the multiple cases of microcephaly in newborn babies.
Regarding sexual transmission as a form of contagion, the WHO affirms that it is a rare mechanism of spread of the disease , so efforts to combat Zika are focusing on transmission by mosquito bites, the procedure more aggressive. However, US health authorities have launched a new campaign to raise awareness about condom use.
