Zika virus as a sexually transmitted pathogen

Purpose of review Zika virus has recently emerged from an obscure mosquito-borne pathogen to an international public health concern. It is the first viral agent newly demonstrated to cause birth defects in several decades, and it is the only arbovirus now known to be transmitted sexually. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of current understanding of sexual transmission of Zika virus and its possible clinical and public health consequences. Recent findings Sexual transmission of Zika virus has been reported from at least 13 countries without simultaneous mosquito-borne transmission; it is undoubtedly also occurring in countries with active arthropod transmission. Most published cases involve transmission from symptomatically infected men to women partners. Nevertheless, transmission from a symptomatic man to another man, from a symptomatic woman to a man, and from an asymptomatic man to a woman has also been reported. Sexual transmission has occurred before symptom onset, during illness, and after resolution of the source partner's symptoms. With the exception of a woman who developed symptomatic infection 44 days after onset of her husband's illness, nearly all instances reported to date have occurred within 20 days of the source partner's illness. Zika virus RNA has been detected in semen, saliva, blood, urine, and vaginal and cervical secretions; the length of time during which RNA can be detected varies widely across different body fluids but is esp...
Source: Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES: Edited by Karen Rogstad Source Type: research