If you’ve travelled to Zika-affected regions, don’t have unprotected sex for six months, the World Health Organization is advising in updated guidelines.
The international health officials are extending the policy from eight weeks to six months because of new evidence that Zika lingers in the body and could be passed on through sex for longer than what was initially thought.
It doesn’t matter if you’re not showing symptoms, such as the flu, fever, lethargy, or runny eyes. If you’ve visited a country grappling with the virus, they’re advising you stick to safe sex.
READ MORE: These are the tell-tale symptoms of Zika virus, according to a new case study
In some cases, healthy men showing no symptoms were passing the mosquito-borne virus to their partners. In other instances, levels of the virus were detected in semen beyond the two-month mark.
“Based on this new evidence, the recommended length of time for safer sex practices for asymptomatic males returning from areas with active Zika virus transmission was extended from eight weeks to six months,” the WHO says in its guidelines.
“This is the same length of time as is recommended for symptomatic males. This recommendation now applies to females, whether or not they have had symptoms,” it reads.
Read the full updated guidelines here.
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In new research out Tuesday, scientists are warning that Zika can even live in the eyes which could explain why some babies who contract the virus end up with retinal damage or blindness after birth.
In adults, a major symptom is conjunctivitis – red, itchy and runny eyes.
“Our study suggests that the eye could be a reservoir for Zika virus. We need to consider whether people with Zika have infectious virus in their eyes and how long it actually persists,” Dr. Michael Diamond, one of the study’s senior authors, wrote.
“We are planning studies in people to find out whether infectious virus persists in the cornea or other compartments of the eye, because that would have implications,” Diamond said.
Like Dengue, West Nile and Yellow fever, Zika virus is a mosquito-borne tropical disease, meaning they transmit the disease to humans.
READ MORE: What doctors know about how Zika virus potentially spreads
In short, mosquitoes draw blood from the infected animal then re-inject the blood – with the virus in tow – into others at their next meal.
So far, the virus has been linked to a 20-fold increase in microcephaly, a rare defect in babies who are born with irregularly small heads and underdeveloped brains.
While the WHO is calling for six months of safe sex, some countries have urged for longer periods of time.
READ MORE: Is Zika virus causing a spike in microcephaly in babies?
Health officials in El Salvador, Brazil, Jamaica, Ecuador, Honduras and Colombia told residents to delay pregnancy until as far ahead as 2018 as doctors better understand how the infection tampers with brain development in infants.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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