Zika Cluster In Dallas Texas Via Sexual Transmission

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CONTACTS

Erikka D. Neroes, Public Information Officer 214.819.6329 (office) 214.394.8109 (cell)

Zachary Thompson, Director 214.755.9299 (cell)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DCHHS Reports Second Zika Virus Case in Dallas County

DALLAS (Feb. 2, 2016) – Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) has received confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the second Zika virus case in Dallas County in 2016. The patient recently traveled to Venezuela and was diagnosed with the virus upon returning to Dallas County. For medical confidentiality and personal privacy reasons, DCHHS does not provide additional identifying information. Zika virus is transmitted to people by mosquitoes and through sexual activity. The most common symptoms of Zika virus are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting several days to a week. DCHHS advises individuals with symptoms to see a healthcare provider if they have visited an area where Zika virus is present or had sexual contact with a person who traveled to an area where Zika virus is present. There is no specific medication available to treat Zika virus and there is not a vaccine. The best way to avoid Zika virus is to avoid mosquito bites and to avoid sexual contact with a person who has Zika virus.

DCHHS recommends the following to avoid Zika virus: Use the 4Ds to reduce the chance of being bitten by a mosquito.

 DEET All Day, Every Day: Whenever you’re outside, use insect repellents that contain DEET or other EPA approved repellents and follow instructions.

 DRESS: Wear long, loose, and light-colored clothing outside.

 DRAIN: Remove all standing water in and around your home.

 DUSK & DAWN: Limit outdoor activities during dusk and dawn hours when mosquitoes are most active.

Travelers can protect themselves by doing the following:

 Choose a hotel or lodging with air conditioning or screens on windows or doors.

 Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are outside or in a room that is not well-screened.

Sexual partners can protect each other by using condoms to prevent spreading sexually-transmitted infections.

There are currently no reports of Zika virus being locally-transmitted by mosquitoes in Dallas County. However, imported cases make local spread by mosquitoes possible because the mosquitoes that can transmit the virus are found locally.

DCHHS advises recent travelers with Zika virus symptoms as well as individuals diagnosed with Zika virus protect themselves from further mosquito bites.

For more information on Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika viruses, go to the DCHHS website.

http://www.dallascounty.org/department/hhs/press/documents/PR2-2-16DCHHSReportsSecondCaseofZikaVirus.pdf

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Texas Patient Gets Zika Virus Through Sexual Contact, Officials Say

Virus is usually spread through mosquito bites

 

ENLARGE

The Zika virus is usually spread through mosquito bites, but officials say a person in Texas was infected after having sexual contact with an ill person who returned from a country where Zika was present. PHOTO: PAULO WHITAKER/REUTERS

By 

KAT LONG and

 

BETSY MCKAY

Updated Feb. 2, 2016 8:03 p.m. ET

11 COMMENTS

A person in Texas has contracted the Zika virus through sexual contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The individual was a sexual partner of another individual who had recently traveled to an area where Zika is circulating and tested positive for the virus after returning home, the agency said.

Texas health officials said the patient is a resident of Dallas County but declined to release further details or indicate where the patient’s sexual partner became infected.

“The timing of the travel, the mosquito activity at that time of year, and the timing of the infection all point to sexual transmission, and not a mosquito bite,” said Chris Van Deusen, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“We’re continuing to evaluate the information with Dallas County and the CDC,” Mr. Van Deusen said.

 

As many as 1.5 million Brazilians may have been infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus and now the U.S. and other countries are also reporting new cases. But what is the Zika virus? And why does it pose a threat to pregnant women? Dipti Kapadia explains. Photo: Getty Images

There is no evidence of Zika-carrying mosquitoes in Texas, officials said. The CDC has confirmed 31 travel-associated cases in 11 states and the District of Columbia since 2015.

Zika is usually spread through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. In otherwise healthy adults, symptoms include fever, rash, muscle and joint pain and reddened eyes. Health officials in Brazil have linked Zika to a spike in the number of babies born with unusually small heads and brains, known as microcephaly, as well as several cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes temporary paralysis.

Sexual transmission of Zika has been documented before in at least two cases, but is considered to be extremely rare. Scientists found Zika virus in the semen of a patient in Tahiti who had been exposed during an outbreak in French Polynesia in 2013. In 2008, an American scientist contracted Zika while working in Senegal. His wife in Colorado, who didn’t travel with him, was infected after he returned home in what appeared to be a case of sexual transmission.

Experts said the Texas case, like the two before it, point to a need for more study and guidance for travelers about the risks of Zika transmission.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise—we knew of cases before,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “What we don’t know is how frequently it can occur.”

“This is something that should be considered among travelers, if you’re coming home and you are male and have sexual contact with a woman who is pregnant or may get pregnant,” he said.

The World Health Organization declared Zika an international public health emergency on Monday because of concerns about its potential link to microcephaly in infants. The designation allows the agency to organize research and education efforts in the affected regions. Health officials in some Latin American countries have encouraged women to avoid pregnancy until more is known about the possible link.

The CDC said it would “issue guidance in the coming days on prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus, with a focus on the male sexual partners of women who are or who may be pregnant.”

Write to Betsy McKay at [email protected] or Kat Long at[email protected]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-patient-gets-zika-virus-through-sexual-contact-officials-say-1454449723

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Zika virus sexual transmission case in U.S. raises concern of World Health Organization

First known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States

CBC News Posted: Feb 03, 2016 6:22 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 03, 2016 6:58 AM ET

The Aedes aegypti mosquito spreads the Zika virus, but a case of infection in Dallas through sex is the first incident of transmission within the United States. (James Gathany/CDC/Associated Press)

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The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced concern on Wednesday over a report that the Zika virus had been sexually transmitted in the United States and called for further investigation into the mosquito-borne virus linked to birth defects.

The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite.

"We certainly understand the concern. This needs to be further investigated to understand the conditions and how often or likely sexual transmission is, and whether or not other body fluids are implicated," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters. 

• Zika virus: 6 things to know about the growing outbreak
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"This is the only the second mooted case of sexual transmission," he said, referring to media reports about a case of an American man who returned from Senegal and is suspected of infecting his wife.

The virus, linked to babies born with abnormally small heads and birth defects in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas and the WHO declared an international public health emergency on Monday about the condition known as microcephaly.

The WHO global response team will discuss the sexual transmission report among other issues at its daily meeting later on Wednesday, Hartl said.

"There are many things we don't know about Zika," he said. "Lots of surveillance is needed...We have our team set up and are sure there will be lots of progress quickly." For now the key in infected areas is to try to control mosquitos and for people to wear adequate clothing, use insect repellent and sleep under bednets, Hartl said.

Dallas County health officials said in a tweet on Tuesday that the confirmed patient did not travel but was infected after having sexual contact with an ill person who had returned from Venezuela. They did not release any details about either patient, citing privacy issues. 

 

Investigators had been exploring the possibility the virus could be sexually transmitted. There was a report of a Colorado researcher who picked up the virus in Africa and apparently spread it to his wife back home in 2008, and it was found in one man's semen in Tahiti.

"It's very rare, but this is not new," Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services, told WFAA-TV in Dallas. "We always looked at the point that this could be transmitted sexually."

With files from The Associated Press

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/zika-virus-sexual-tranmission-who-1.3431458

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Life | Wed Feb 3, 2016 7:57am EST

Related: HEALTH

WHO calls for further investigation into sexual spread of Zika virus

GENEVA | BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY

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A municipal worker fumigates inside a building to help control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Caracas, February 2, 2016.

REUTERS/MARCO BELLO

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced concern on Wednesday over a report the Zika virus had been sexually transmitted in the United States and called for further investigation into the mosquito-borne virus.

The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite.

"We certainly understand the concern. This needs to be further investigated to understand the conditions and how often or likely sexual transmission is, and whether or not other body fluids are implicated," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters.

"This is the only the second mooted case of sexual transmission," he said, referring to media reports about a case of an American man who returned from Senegal in 2008 and is suspected of having infected his wife.

The virus, linked to babies born with abnormally small heads and birth defects in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in the Americas and the WHO declared an international public health emergency on Monday about the condition known as microcephaly.

The United Nations agency, which is leading international coordination on the outbreak, said on Tuesday the virus could spread to Africa and Asia, which have the world's highest birth rates, as well as to southern Europe.

In a statement on Wednesday to European member states, WHO said the risk of the virus spreading into Europe increases with the onset of spring and summer.

"Now is the time for countries to prepare themselves to reduce the risk to their populations," WHO's Europe chief Zsuzsanna Jakab said. "Every European country in which Aedes mosquitoes are present can be at risk for the spread of Zika virus disease.

"A number of travelers infected with Zika have entered Europe, but the disease has not been transmitted further, as the mosquito is still inactive. With the onset of spring and summer, the risk that Zika virus will spread increases."

The WHO has not recommended travel or trade bans with affected countries, but says that it is drawing up advice to pregnant women.

The WHO global response team will discuss the sexual transmission report among other issues at its daily meeting later on Wednesday, Hartl said.

"There are many things we don't know about Zika," he said. "Lots of surveillance is needed ... We have our team set up and are sure there will be lots of progress quickly."

For now, the key in infected areas is to try to control mosquitoes and for people to wear adequate clothing, use insect repellent and sleep under bednets, Hartl said.

Pfizer Inc, Johnson and Johnson and Merck & Co Inc said they were evaluating their technologies or existing vaccines for their potential to combat Zika.

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd said it had created a team to investigate how it might help make a vaccine, a day after Sanofi SA said it would launch a Zika vaccine program.

 

(Reporting and writing by Stephanie Nebehay; additional reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-who-idUSKCN0VC158

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The Scoop Blog

Dallas County’s first Zika cases may prove defect-causing virus can spread through sex

Avi Selk Follow @aviselk Email [email protected]

Published: February 2, 2016 1:50 pm

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Dr. Vanessa Van Der Linden, the neuro-pediatrician who first recognized the microcephaly crisis in Brazil, measures the head of a 2-month-old baby with microcephaly. The baby’s mother was diagnosed with having the Zika virus during her pregnancy. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Last updated at 7:20 p.m. to incorporate updates and context from health officials

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By AVI SELK and SEEMA YASMIN

Staff Writers

After spreading rapidly through mosquito bites in South America, where it’s suspected of causing thousands of birth defects, the Zika virus has come to Dallas County.

And it’s brought with it fresh evidence that it may be able to pass directly between people through sex.

County health officials say a traveler, dubbed “Patient 0,” recently returned to the Dallas area after a trip to Venezuela — near the heart of a South American Zika outbreak that’s been linked to a rash of babies born with small heads. The microcephaly cases and the virus’ furious spread caused the World Health Organization to declare Zika a global health emergency this week.

Patient 0 had sex with Patient 1 after returning home, and both tested positive for the virus, officials announced Tuesday.

While they’re hardly the first American cases of Zika — at least six others have the disease in Texas alone — a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Patient 1 is “the first U.S. case of Zika virus infection in a non-traveler in the continental United States.”

Local health officials went even further.

“Zika can be transmitted from mosquito to humans, humans to mosquitoes — and now, we know, through sexual transmission,” said Dallas County health director Zachary Thompson.

Other aren’t quite convinced. While researchers have long suspected that Zika can be spread through sex — notably in the case of a Colorado husband and wife who came down with it several years ago — proof has been elusive.

“We think it’s likely that this case was sexually transmitted, but we’ll be looking for more information,” said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Meanwhile, he and other health officials are trying to assure North Texas that our first known case of Zika is no epidemic.

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“If I went outside to get the paper and forgot to spray myself and a mosquito bit me, do I need to run to a doctor and have myself checked for Zika?” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins asked himself.

“No, you don’t,” he answered.

Jenkins became an expert in public health crises in 2014, when he helped lead Dallas’ effort to contain the first U.S. cases of the deadly Ebola virus.

But the judge noted that for all its infamy, Zika’s only big danger is to fetuses. Most nonpregnant people who catch it — such as Patients 0 and 1 — experience only mild cold-like symptoms, if any. Those symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. The symptoms usually last several days to a week.

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County officials don’t believe the couple spread the virus to anyone else.

The variety of mosquito that has spread Zika in epidemic proportions across Brazil and other parts of South and Central America does live in North Texas, but in relatively low numbers — especially during winter months.

After Patients 0 and 1 were diagnosed with the virus, county officials trapped mosquitoes around the couple’s home. They didn’t even find any of the kind that can carry Zika, Jenkins said, let alone any that tested positive.

“You don’t have any proof there’s any Zika-infected mosquito anywhere in Dallas County,” he said. “If you are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant and you are considering going to Dallas, this is a safe place.”

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The virus was first discovered in the blood of monkeys in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947. Since then, it’s caused outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia and Micronesia.

Before the current outbreak in Latin America and the Caribbean, the biggest outbreak of Zika occurred in French Polynesia in 2013. Approximately 28,000 people were infected. Most of them had the typical mild symptoms of Zika. But during that outbreak, some people infected with the Zika virus were diagnosed with a rare neurologic condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, causing muscle weakness and paralysis.

Zika virus hasn’t been proven to cause microcephaly or Guillain-Barré syndrome. Still, health officials in many Zika-affected countries are warning pregnant women to avoid mosquitoes and even suggesting women delay pregnancy until the outbreak is over.

[email protected]; [email protected]
Twitter: @aviselk; @DoctorYasmin

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/02/defect-causing-zika-virus-found-in-dallas-county.html/

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Zika Virus – Feb. 3, 2016

Texas has 10 cases of Zika virus disease. Nine are travelers who were infected abroad and diagnosed after they returned home. One case involves a Dallas County resident who had sexual contact with someone who acquired the Zika infection while traveling abroad. Case counts by county: 

Harris County – 7

Bexar County – 1

Dallas County – 2

Zika is primarily a mosquito-borne virus that can cause fever, rash, muscle and joint aches and pinkeye. Symptoms are usually mild, and most people exposed to Zika virus won’t develop any symptoms at all. There have been reports of microcephaly and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant.

The Texas Department of State Health Services is encouraging people to follow travel precautions for regions and certain countries where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.

DSHS recommends travelers avoid mosquito bites while abroad and for seven days after returning, in case they have been exposed to Zika virus. People can protect themselves from mosquito bites by:

• Wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants
• Using EPA-registered insect repellents
• Using permethrin-treated clothing and gear 
• Staying and sleeping in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms
• Avoiding or limiting outdoor activities during peak mosquito times

Note: Zika case data for Texas will be updated weekdays by 11 a.m.

Texas Zika Virus

DSHS News Releases

CDC Zika Virus

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/updates.shtm

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DCHHS Provides Update on 
Zika Virus Cases

 

DALLAS (Feb. 4, 2016) – Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) has completed the initial public health investigation on the two Zika cases reported Feb. 2. Both patients have recovered fully. As part of the public health follow-up, the patients have been advised to follow up with their physician. DCHHS conducted mosquito surveillance in the area of the patients’ residence and did not identify any mosquito/vector activity. See the DCHHS health advisory for more information.DCHHS does not have further updates on the two cases reported Feb. 2.

 

DCHHS is awaiting four Zika virus specimen results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

For information on Zika virus, go to the DCHHS website.

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DCHHS Advises Dallas County Residents to Follow CDC Zika Virus Guidance

 

 

DALLAS (Feb. 5, 2016) – Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) is advising Dallas County residents to be aware of new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding Zika virus. 

 

“DCHHS is staying in constant communication with local, state, and federal partners to ensure we have the most current information,” said Zachary Thompson, DCHHS director. “In addition to the usual recommendations we have been giving Dallas County residents, we encourage them to be aware of and follow CDC guidance as well to protect themselves and their loved ones from all mosquito-borne viruses, including Zika.” 

 

DCHHS recommends everyone use the 4Ds to reduce the chance of being bitten by a mosquito: 
·         DEET All Day, Every Day: Whenever you’re outside, use insect repellents that contain DEET or other EPA approved repellents and follow instructions. 
·         Dress: Wear long, loose, and light-colored clothing outside. 
·         Drain: Drain or treat all standing water in and around your home or workplace. 
·         Dusk & Dawn: Limit outdoor activities during dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.

 

Standing water can be treated with EPA-approved larvicides that are available for retail purchase. Larvicides are products used to kill immature mosquitoes before they become adults. Larvicides are applied directly to water sources that hold mosquito eggs, larvae, or pupae. When used well, larvicides can help reduce the overall mosquito burden by limiting the number of mosquitoes that are produced, according to the CDC.

 

Travelers can protect themselves further by doing the following:
·         Choose a hotel or lodging with air conditioning or screens on windows or doors.
·         Sleep under a mosquito bed net if you are outside or in a room that is not well-screened.

 

Dr. Christopher Perkins, DCHHS medical director/health authority, said in addition to DCHHS’ traditional recommendations for preventing mosquito-borne viruses, the latest CDC guidance is important in helping prevent transmission and spread of Zika virus locally, and to pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant.

 

“Pregnant women, those planning to become pregnant, and their partners traveling to or from areas where Zika virus is active should follow guidance from CDC,” said Perkins. “Furthermore, pregnant women should use condoms for the duration of their pregnancy or abstain from sexual activity altogether.”

 

DCHHS plans to make updates on Zika virus as more information becomes available.

 

Click here to see: CDC issues Interim Guidelines for Preventing Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus and Updated Interim Guidelines for Health Care Providers Caring for Pregnant Women and Women of Reproductive Age with Possible Zika Virus Exposure