CDC issues more restrictive sex guidelines due to Zika risk
Federal health officials on Friday issued new, more detailed and far more restrictive guidelines to prevent the sexual transmission of the Zika virus.
Men who have confirmed cases of Zika or experience symptoms of the Zika virus after traveling to areas where Zika is spreading, for example, should wait at least six months to have unprotected sex or try to conceive a child with a partner, a far longer time period than previously suggested.
The new timeframe reflects the longest period during which the virus has been detected in semen -- 62 days -- plus an additional buffer to allow for uncertainty.
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The virus has been linked to birth defects and neurological disorders, though a causative tie has not been definitively proven.
For a woman who has been exposed to or who is experiencing symptoms of Zika, the new guidelines say she should wait at least eight weeks since the exposure, or the first appearance of symptoms, before trying to conceive a child in order to avoid the heightened risk of having a baby with birth defects.
The virus is spreading throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and could be poised to spread quickly across Puerto Rico, which is in the throes of an economic crisis that has affected government mosquito control programs.
The agency also called for increased distribution of IUDs and other forms of birth control throughout Puerto Rico to prevent unintended pregnancies.
As many as two-thirds of all pregnancies on Puerto Rico are unintended, the agency said.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, which issued the new guidelines, said as many as 138,000 young Puerto Rican women do not want to get pregnant but are not using effective birth control.
The Zika virus is mainly spread by mosquitoes, but the CDC and other health authorities have found that sexual transmission of the virus is more common than previously thought.
Zika causes few if any symptoms in most people. But there's mounting evidence linking infection in pregnant women to subsequent birth defects. For those who do experience symptoms, the most common ones are fever, rash, joint pain or red eyes.
Specifically, the virus has been tied to an increased incidence of a birth defect known as microcephaly, which is a sign of incomplete brain development. It is also associated with higher rates of miscarriage and still birth.
"The rate of these complications is not known but is being studied further. Importantly, even in places with active Zika transmission women are delivering apparently healthy infants," the CDC cautioned in the new guidance.
The CDC guideline also covers couples with men who traveled to an area with Zika but never developed symptoms. For these couples, it recommends they "consider using condoms or not having sex for at least 8 weeks after their return in order to minimize risk."
As for couples with men who live in an area with Zika, but have not come down with symptoms, the agency recommends they "consider using condoms or not having sex while there is active Zika transmission in the area."
According to one of three CDC reports released Friday, there have been six confirmed cases of sexual transmission in the U.S. associated with the ongoing outbreak.
The first case of sexual transmission associated with the current outbreak was reported in early February in Dallas County, Texas, with two additional confirmed cases of sexual transmission involving individuals returning home from areas with active Zika virus transmission. All reported cases involved women who had sex with men who were showing, or had recently shown, symptoms of Zika virus disease.
Researchers do not yet know if an asymptomatic person can transmit Zika through sexual contact.
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Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
