Physical Wellness

Zika Virus Infection Could Be Transmitted Through Anal Sex

By Sara Gale | Update Date: Apr 15, 2016 05:49 AM EDT

Zika virus infection could be transmitted through anal sex, claims a recent report that confirmed the first sexually transmitted Zika virus case in Dallas.

According to the report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Texas health officials on Zika virus infection, the first confirmed case in Dallas was sexually transmitted from one man to another, reported NBC News.

The unnamed man that contracted the infection is said to have had intercourse with another man who returned with Zika virus infection from Venezuela. The couple that has been in relationship for over ten years reportedly had sex the day the traveller returned to the country.

No virus was said to have found initially in the urine, semen and saliva samples collected by the doctors from both the men. However, after subjecting the samples through thorough investigation it was identified that the partner that travelled out of the country had sexually transmitted the disease to another.

"The second man had had a Zika virus infection and the only way he could have gotten it was from his sexual partner," says Dr. John Brooks, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an author on the case report published Thursday by the CDC. "We know that most STIs can be transmitted through anal sex and oral sex as well as vaginal sex," says Brooks.

Since Zika virus is found to cause severe birth defects in children it is indispensible to know the cause and source of the infection. While now it is proven that Zika virus could be sexually transmitted from one person to another, CDC has advised pregnant women not to have unprotected sex with their partners that are suspected to have contracted the infection.

CDC also recommends pregnant women to refrain from having sexual relationship with partners that travelled to Zika virus-infected areas. However, it is not established clearly that the infection spreads from semen, any bodily fluid, say pre-ejaculate or saliva from the infected person could be responsible for the transmission of Zika virus infection.

"The take-home message is you have to consider any kind of intimate contact between an infected person with Zika and a non-infected person as a potential risk situation, regardless of gender," the Huffington Post quoted Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, as telling STAT, noted Australia News Network.

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