ZIKA VIRUS IN SALIVA, MAY BE SPREAD BY KISSING

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East County News Service

February 5, 2016 (San Diego) — Medical researchers in Brazil have found Zika virus in saliva and urine of two patients. Dr. Paulo Gadelha, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil that found the viruses in these body fluids, urged that pregnant women or other visitors concerned about contracting the virus avoid kissing strangers at this week’s Carnival in Brazil.

That could also spell concern for pregnant women whose partners have traveled to 24 countries where Zika virus has now been confirmed. The researchers said more research is needed, however, to confirm whether Zika can be transmitted by kissing. 

The findings come on the heels of news earlier this week that a Texas patient contracted Zika through sex with a traveler who visited a Zika-infested area, the second known sexual transmission of the disease.

Zika is suspected of causing thousands of babies to be born with microcephaly, causing brain damage, seizures and other serious problems.  It is also believed responsible for paralysis via Guillain Barre syndrome, though 80% of people who contract the virus have no symptoms.

Some global health experts have voiced concern over the Olympics slated to occur in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August.  The International Olympic Committee has issued cautionary warnings for pregnant athletes and fear of Zika will likely keep some spectators away. Medical experts have voiced concern that returning athletes and spectators could carry Zika to countries around the world. 

Brazil has contended that since the Olympics will occur in the Southern hemisphere’s winter, the mosquito-borne virus can be contained in the area where the Olympics will be held and thus far no cases have been reported in Rio de Janeiro. 


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Comments

Baloney -- it's an attack on Brazil

The virus is long known, harmless and the main current scare, that the virus damages unborn children, is based on uncorroborated and likely false information. The virus is long known, harmless and the main current scare, that the virus damages unborn children, is based on uncorroborated and likely false information. A recent Congressional Research Service report (pdf) about Zika notes: Zika is a virus that is primarily spread by Aedes mosquitoes [..]. Zika transmission has also been documented from mother to child during pregnancy, as well as through sexual intercourse, blood transfusions, and laboratory exposure. Scientists first identified the virus in 1947 among monkeys living in the Ugandan Zika forest. Five years later, human cases were detected in Uganda and Tanzania. The first human cases outside of Africa were diagnosed in the Pacific in 2007 and in Latin America in 2015. Health experts are uncertain whether Zika causes microcephaly, a potentially severe birth defect involving brain damage. Since October 2015, Brazilian officials have reported more than 4,000 cases of microcephaly in areas with ongoing Zika transmission, up from roughly 150 cases in previous years. Health officials are concerned that this may be a result of infection in the fetus when a pregnant woman is infected.