Men! No Sex to Avoid Spread of Zika

The U.S. leading health advice organization has issued recommendations aimed at men for avoiding the sexual transmission of the Zika virus, marking a shift in the approach to advice which has thus far centered solely on women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directed men to take certain precautions including abstaining from sex with pregnant partners if they have traveled to an area affected by the mosquito-borne disease.

The new guidance came after a report earlier this week confirmed that a Dallas man caught Zika by having sex with someone who was infected with the virus while away in Venezuela.

The Latin American country is one of many in the region where the disease is spreading exponentially.

Although mosquitoes are still believed to be the primary means by which Zika is spread and prevention is paramount to evade infection, the CDC told a press conference that it was looking curtail sexual transmission.

According to the organization, not having sex (vaginal, anal or oral) during pregnancy is one way. Another is for men who have been exposed to a Zika-affected region to properly use condoms when having sex with a pregnant partner.

CDC Director Tom Frieden told reporters that they needed “more information” about reports that traces of the virus were detected in saliva and urine of unwell patients.

"We're still learning more about (the virus in) saliva and how it works in the body," Frieden said. "There's been a total of three cases in the world literature of Zika being present in male secretions."

Up until now, guidelines for avoiding the virus have focused on women due to Zika’s suspected link to microcephaly, a rare condition where babies are born with very small heads and other abnormalities.

A spike of such cases in Brazil led to the association between the two conditions.

The virus has been reported in 30 countries since it emerged in the Americas last year, with Brazil the most severely affected. Over 1.5 million people have contracted the virus in the South American country and approximately 3,400 babies have been born with microcephaly.

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