The first sexually transmitted case of the Zika virus has been diagnosed in France.
The patient's partner had recently travelled to Brazil where he picked up the mosquito-borne virus that is sweeping through South and Central America. She is not pregnant.
According to Francois Bourdillon, head of France’s Institute for Public Health Surveillance (IVS) “This was a woman who had never travelled. Her partner had come from Brazil, so she was tested,”
Meanwhile, medical experts in the United States have reported 14 Zika cases, with a number of pregnant women affected, possibly through sex. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two women chose to have abortions, while two women suffered miscarriages caused by the disease. One of the pregnant women gave birth to a child with serious birth defects while two women delivered healthy babies. Two more women who were infected with Zika have yet to give birth.
A total of 46 countries have reported evidence of Zika infection so far. There have been two cases of the disease in Ireland, neither of which involved a pregnancy. Both affected parties in Ireland had travelled to a Zika-affected country and are said to be fully recovered from the virus.
WHO director-general Margaret Chan described the virus, and its links to microcephaly (a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development) in infants, as a threat 'of alarming proportions'. The organisation estimates that there could be up to four million cases of Zika in the Americas in the next year, and has advised pregnant women to avoid travelling to affected countries.
