Pandemic fears spread as Zika infections span the globe

Chinese officials this morning announced the first case of Zika infection in a resident of Ganzhou who recently traveled to Venezuela. The man is recovering, but his case and others in Europe and the United States highlight why world health officials fear the virus could soon become a global epidemic.

Although Zika primarily spreads through mosquito bites, health officials have reported cases transmitted through sexual intercourse. Last week, doctors in Texas discovered the virus in a patient who had not traveled to an outbreak area but whose partner had.

“[The Texas case] adds weight to the evidence that sexual transmission is a real risk, and raises many questions and dilemmas,” said Peter Horby, professor of tropical medicine and infectious diseases at Oxford University. “This highlights our ignorance of this virus and the need for an urgent, comprehensive and coordinated research response.”

In light of the sexually transmitted Zika case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines advising men who recently traveled to active outbreak areas to use condoms.

“We just don’t know. We’re always going to err on the side of safety,” said CDC director Tom Frieden.

In a similarly cautious vein, the Red Cross issued a statement last week requesting anyone who recently traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central or South America to defer blood donation for at least 28 days. The virus is thought to remain in the infected person’s blood for a week, at most.

The flurry of precautions began in Brazil, where a top health official said scientists found live virus in saliva and urine samples. The possibility of Zika transmission through bodily fluid remains murky, and scientists say they need to study it more to fully assess the threat. Zika itself does not appear to cause serious illness. But mounting evidence from Brazil suggests Zika infection in pregnant women causes microcephaly, a condition that results in babies born with abnormally small heads and developmental delays.

Health experts still believe Zika is primarily transmitted through bites from infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, commonly found in the southern border of the U.S., from Florida to California. The Asian tiger mosquito is another carrier, with a northerly range including cities like Chicago and New York.

To date, there are no reports of mosquito transmission within the U.S., but about 50 American travelers, including six pregnant women, were diagnosed after visiting affected countries. The CDC now advises doctors to test pregnant women who have traveled to outbreak areas between two and 12 weeks after they return to the states.

Discovered in a Ugandan forest in 1947, the long-underestimated Zika virus has gained momentum at an alarming rate, spreading to 26 countries across the Americas, Caribbean, and Pacific Islands, according to the Pan American Health Association.

Vaccine research is underway, but development could take years.

Meanwhile, Zika fears are causing some Olympic teams to rethink traveling to this year’s games in Rio de Jainero—the epicenter of the outbreak. According to an exclusive Reuters report, the United States Olympic Committee this week held a meeting with U.S. sports federation heads, telling them competitors worried about contracting Zika in Brazil should consider opting out of the games.

According to a recent report by the BBC, there is a chance Kenya will withdraw from the Rio Olympics: “We are not going to risk taking Kenyans there if this Zika virus reaches epidemic levels,” said Kipchoge Keino, chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.