Case of sexually transmitted Zika virus reported in Georgia

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed Friday the first sexually transmitted case of Zika virus in Georgia.

A woman, who was not pregnant, was infected by a man who had traveled to Brazil earlier this year and was among Georgia’s confirmed travel-related cases.

The woman who was infected had not traveled out of the country. She and her partner have fully recovered.

A man infected with Zika can pass the virus to his female or male sex partner before, during, and after symptoms appear.

A recent report indicated Zika remains in semen for 62 days, the press release stated, but those results are not confirmed.

At this time there is no evidence that women can transmit Zika virus to their sexual partners.

“If your partner has traveled to an area where Zika virus transmission is ongoing, protecting yourself by abstaining from sex or using condoms during sex is the best way to prevent sexual transmission of the Zika virus,” said Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, the GDPH commissioner. “Next to abstinence, condoms are the best prevention method against any sexually transmitted infection.”

The department issued a number of advisories:

For women who can get pregnant and whose male partner has been diagnosed with Zika or has symptoms, the couple should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least six months after symptoms begin.

If the male partner does not develop symptoms, the couple should consider using condoms or not having sex for at least eight weeks after the man returns.

The virus can spread from a woman to her child during pregnancy and the infection is linked to microcephaly, a birth defect in which the baby is born with a smaller-than-normal head due to abnormal brain development.

Most people infected with Zika virus will not develop symptoms. If symptoms do develop, they are usually mild and include fever, rash, joint pain and eye redness.

If an individual returns from a Zika-affected country and has fever with rash, joint pain, and eye redness or other symptoms within two weeks, they should see a doctor and indicate where they’ve traveled.

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika.

To date, there are 17 confirmed travel-related cases of Zika virus in Georgia.

There are no confirmed local mosquito-borne cases of Zika virus in the state. However, the virus is transmitted primarily through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and both species are found in Georgia.