Health officials are warning that blood and other bodily fluids of people severely ill with the Zika virus might be infectious.
A Utah resident may have gotten Zika after coming into close contact with his father, who had the virus, which is far different from the normal mode of transmission via mosquito bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
It is still not clear how the Utah man got Zika. However, the unidentified patient was known to hug and kiss his elderly father, who pick up the virus in another country.
The patient cared for his father for several days until his father died of septic shock and multiple organ failure in June.
A blood sample revealed that the level of Zika in the father was 100,000 times higher than the average level for a person infected with Zika, the CDC said.
The Utah man who contracted Zika recovered. Screenings of 19 other family members who came into contact with the father came up negative for the virus that can cause the birth defect microcephaly.
The CDC said they still don’t know how exactly the son was infected.
However, he did come into close contact with his father when the viral load was high.
“Although it is not certain that these types of close contact were the source of transmission, family contacts should be aware that blood and body fluids of severely ill patients might be infectious,” the CDC said.
If that is the case, it creates another wrinkle for a virus that has thrown the CDC for a loop. CDC Director Tom Frieden told reporters last week that Zika is the first mosquito-borne virus linked to a birth defect, which wasn’t known until the latest outbreak started in Brazil last year.
In addition, Zika can be transmitted sexually.
More than 60 cases of local transmission have been found in the continental U.S., likely from mosquito bites. All of the cases are in Florida, with the vast majority in the Miami area. Health officials have found nearly 3,000 travel-related cases.
