Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Zika Virus Found in Woman's Vagina for Weeks

A woman infected with Zika carried the virus in her vagina for weeks, researchers reported Tuesday.

It's yet more evidence that the virus can hang out in the human body for weeks or months after symptoms have cleared up. The findings, rushed online by the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, also add to evidence the virus might be commonly transmitted sexually.

That, in turn, helps explain Zika's rapid spread. Mosquitoes that carry the virus don't go more than a few hundred yards in their lives. People travel much further. 

Dr. Kristy Murray, assistant dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and colleagues tested a woman infected with Zika while visiting Honduras.   

"A previously healthy, nonpregnant, 26 year-old non-Hispanic white woman returned to the United States from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, during mid-May 2016," they wrote. 

Click here for the full article. 

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