Zika

First case in which virus was passed on in the US supports theories of possible sexual transmission, officials say.

A person in Texas has been infected with the Zika virus likely through sexual intercourse in the first case of the illness being transmitted in the United States as the outbreak spreads throughout Latin America.

The unidentified person hadn’t traveled abroad but had sex with a person who returned from Venezuela and contracted Zika, Dallas County health officials said on Tuesday. The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued a statement saying lab tests confirmed the non-traveler was infected with Zika.

The virus, which may be connected to thousands of birth defects in the Americas, is primarily spread through mosquito bites, but investigators had been exploring the possibility it could be sexually transmitted.

A Colorado researcher who picked up the virus in Africa reportedly infected his wife back home in 2008, and Zika was found in one man’s semen in Tahiti.

“It’s very rare but this is not new,” Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services, told WFAA-TV in Dallas. “We always looked at the point that this could be transmitted sexually.”

The CDC said it will issue guidance in the coming days on prevention of sexual transmission of the Zika virus, focusing on the male sexual partners of women who are or may be pregnant.

The CDC has already recommended that pregnant women postpone trips to more than two dozen countries with Zika outbreaks, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela.

It also said other visitors should use insect repellent and take other precautions to prevent mosquito bites.

The World Health Organization on Monday declared a global emergency over the rapidly spreading Zika virus, saying it is an “extraordinary event” that poses a threat to the rest of the world.

The declaration was made after an emergency meeting of independent experts called in response to a spike in babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads in Brazil since the virus was first found there last year.

WHO officials said it could be months before science proves or disproves any connection between the virus and babies born with abnormally small heads.

IOC confident the mosquito-borne virus won’t affect the Games, even as Brazilian officials and WHO ramp up warnings.

WHO estimates there could be up to four million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year [Mariana Bazo/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will not be cancelled and the mosquito-borne virus will not affect the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.

Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, IOC President Thomas Bach expressed confidence that there will be good conditions for athletes and spectators at the Rio Games in August, despite the explosive spread of the Zika virus across the Americas.

But President Dilma Rousseff’s chief of staff, Jaques Wagner, has urged pregnant women to not travel to Brazil for the Olympics because of the risk posed by the virus.

“The risk, which I would say is serious, is for pregnant women. It is clearly not advisable for you to travel to the games because you don’t want to take that risk,” he said.

The unprecedented warning, issued just over six months from the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, came after the World Health Organization declared an emergency over the virus, suspected of causing microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, in babies.

No vaccine or treatment currently exists for the virus.

Outbreak worse than believed

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the explosive spread of the Zika virus in the Americas is an “extraordinary event” that merits being declared an international emergency.

The agency convened an emergency meeting of independent experts on Monday to assess the outbreak, after noting a link between Zika’s arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.

Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, said there was an “urgent need to coordinate international efforts to understand whether the Zika virus is causing birth defects”.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said the increased scientific and financial help from the international community could not come fast enough.

“Many of the most impacted counties, like Brazil and Venezuela, are in the middle of an acute economic crisis,” she said.

“And as [the virus] spreads towards the United States, and perhaps beyond, the race to find a permanent solution is just beginning.”

The WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after admitting it was slow to respond to the recent Ebola outbreak that ravaged parts of West Africa and killed more than 11,300 people.

The WHO declared that the surge in South America was “strongly suspected” of being caused by the Zika virus.

WHO estimates there could be up to four million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year.

Emergency declarations are meant as an international SOS signal and usually trigger increased money and efforts to stop the outbreak, as well as prompting research into possible treatments and vaccines.

Infections have been reported in 13 countries in the Americas, according to WHO, as well as in Asia, and in Africa, from where it originated.

Panama, which has reported 50 Zika infections, borders Colombia, which has so far reported more than 20,000 cases of Zika, including 2,100 in pregnant women. Colombia is forecasting that it will see more than 650,000 infections.

Sexual transmission of Zika virus likely in US case

Rio Olympics ‘to go ahead’ despite Zika virus outbreak

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