Probable Non–Vector-borne Transmission of Zika Virus, Colorado, USA

Abstract

Clinical and serologic evidence indicate that 2 American scientists contracted Zika virus infections while working in Senegal in 2008. One of the scientists transmitted this arbovirus to his wife after his return home. Direct contact is implicated as the transmission route, most likely as a sexually transmitted infection.

Zika virus disease: a current review of the literature

“…There is a high probability of ZIKV transmission through sexual route, specifically in patients of hematospermia having RNA and infectious viral particles in the semen [51]. No other arbovirus has shown any association with hematospermia or is found in the semen [9]. Unintentional sexual transmission of ZIKV to the female partner and subsequently to the fetus may result in awful congenital anomalies among the newborns.…”

“…ZIKV is transmitted to humans through the bite of daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes; however, infection risk through sexual activity and blood transfusions also exists [7][8][9]. Phylogenetic analyses of ZIKV suggest two important lineages, Asian and African, originating from a single ancestor, most likely in Uganda [7].…”

Phylogenetic analysis revealed the central roles of two African countries in the evolution and worldwide spread of Zika virus

“…ZIKV was then identified from Suriname (Enfissi et al, 2016b) in South America, and on other Pacific Islands including French Polynesia (Berthet et al, 2014;Cao-Lormeau et al, 2014;Hancock et al, 2014), Easter Island of Chile (Tognarelli et al, 2015), the Cook Islands (Roth et al, 2014), and New Caledonia (Roth et al, 2014;Dupont-Rouzeyrol et al, 2015). Imported cases were also identified in countries of the Americas and Europe (Foy et al, 2011;Waehre et al, 2014;Zammarchi et al, 2015;Kindhauser et al, 2016). Until March 2016, a total of 10 imported infectious cases had been diagnosed in China.…”

Dengue, chikungunya … and the missing entity – Zika fever: A new emerging threat

“…[22][23][24] The virus is hypothesized to first infect dendritic cells near the site of inoculation, and then gradually it spreads to the lymph nodes and finally into the bloodstream. Flavivirus generally replicates in the cytoplasm, however, ZIKV antigens have been detected in infected cell nuclei.…”