The mysterious infection of a Utah man with the Zika virus has the Obama administration looking for answers in mosquitoes, even though officials say it is highly doubtful they were the culprit.
A Utah man was infected with the Zika virus after caring for his elderly father who got the virus while in another country. The father died due to complications related to the virus. It isn’t immediately known how the son, who has since recovered, got the virus, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the case alongside local officials.
Robert Wirst, a CDC microbiologist, told the Washington Examiner that it appears highly unlikely that the transmission was due to a mosquito, but the agency isn’t ruling anything out. If a mosquito caused the infection, it would be the first such case in the U.S., a major development.
Two breeds of mosquito spread Zika: Aedes aegypti and the Asian tiger mosquito. Neither breed lives in Utah.
The CDC and local health officials are trapping mosquitoes found in the area, but those mosquitoes mainly feed on birds and not humans, Wirst said.
“In addition to the physiological competence of a mosquito to transfer a virus, a lot depends on their behavior,” he said. “One of the reasons Aedes is efficient is she preferentially lives around and feeds on humans.”
No cases of Zika being spread to humans via mosquito bites have been found yet. The CDC said that as of July 12, roughly 1,300 cases of Zika in the continental U.S. have been identified, but almost all are people who got the virus while visiting a country or territory where it is spreading through mosquitoes.
The virus has spread to more than 40 countries and territories, primarily in Latin America.
Wirst said that there is no indication that the virus is spreading through mosquitoes, but he conceded that there could be transmission that the agency is not aware of.
“We are on heightened alert and we have got constant interaction and communication with all states, especially states with high-risk areas,” he said.
The CDC has a plan in place in case a mosquito transmission does occur.
The agency would send a team to work with state health officials to investigate the Zika transmission. Then CDC officials would put into place a mosquito control program that would include targeted spraying to kill the mosquitoes.
Obama administration officials have estimated there could be limited outbreaks of mosquito-borne transmission of Zika this summer.
For now, the CDC is trying to find out how the Utah patient picked up Zika, with Wirst acknowledging the virus has thrown officials a few curveballs since the outbreak started.
“We are learning so much. So many surprises, the big one was microcephaly,” he said, referring to the link to the birth defect discovered earlier this year.
