Report Hints Zika Can Spread Through Oral Sex

Report Hints Zika Can Spread Through Oral Sex

French finding adds to growing evidence that sexual transmission of the virus more common than thought

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 3, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new report from France suggests that the Zika virus can be transmitted through oral sex.

Zika is typically spread through the bite of the Aedes Aegyptimosquito, but the new case adds to building evidence that the virus may be transmitted through sexual contact more readily than thought.

Zika symptoms are typically mild in most people. However, the virus can cause a catastrophic birth defect known as microcephaly in babies born to women who become infected while pregnant. These infants are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.

In the face of the growing reality of sexual transmission of Zika, U.N. health officials announced updated guidelines this week. The advisory urges that women planning to become pregnant wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive if they or their partner live in -- or are returning from -- areas where the Zika virus is active. The guidelines had previously recommended a four-week waiting period.

And if the male partner has had symptoms of Zika infection, couples should wait six months before trying to have a baby, the World Health Organization officials added.

In the new report, doctors said a 24-year-old woman in Paris came down with Zika symptoms after having sex seven times with a 46-year-old man. The man had developed Zika symptoms just before leaving Brazil and arriving in Paris last February.

Each time, the couple had vaginal sex without ejaculation and oral sex with ejaculation, according to the report.

Dr. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, report co-author and an infectious disease specialist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, told The New York Times that the couple was using oral sex as a method of birth control.

The woman became sick shortly afterwards, and both she and the man were tested for presence of the Zika virus, according to the report.

The man had high levels of the virus in his semen and urine, but none in his blood or saliva. The woman had the virus in her urine and saliva, and antibodies to the virus in her blood. However, the doctors noted that they found no sign of Zika in a vaginal swab taken from the woman.

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