First case of sexually transmitted Zika virus seen in France

By Staff The Associated Press

Posted February 27, 2016 12:43 pm

Updated February 27, 2016 12:44 pm

1 min read

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This January 2016 microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the Zika virus. On Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, the CDC said it is investigating more than a dozen possible Zika infections that may have been spread through sex. The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who many have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled. Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC via AP

PARIS – A high-ranking French health official says a first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus has been diagnosed in France on a non-pregnant woman.

Francois Bourdillon, the director general of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, told BFM television that “the patient had not travelled, her companion was returning from Brazil” where he was infected with the Zika virus. He says both are “doing well.”

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Zika is primarily spread by mosquito bites, and transmission through sex is considered rare.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week two cases of sexual transmission of Zika from male travellers to their sexual partners have been confirmed and four others are probable amid an investigation into 14 potential cases.

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