Last summer, news about the spreading Zika virus dominated the front pages. However, as the US Presidential Elections of 2016 drew close, the headlines switched to the two main running candidates and their race to the White House. Even after the elections were over, much of the national press coverage was about how the future administration would turn out. This may have led you to think that the Zika situation is under control.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth. As highlighted by a recent 60 Minutes segment devoted to the issue, the case of Zika in the US is far from resolved. Not only are there thousands of cases of Zika in the US territory of Puerto Rico, but cases of Zika have been found in every single state besides Alaska. Altogether, more than 30,000 cases of Zika infections were diagnosed in the US. More than 4,000 have been in the US States, and over 125 of them were transmitted locally, according to the CDC.
The problem is that Zika is transmitted through various means, including sex. When a traveler is infected with Zika through a mosquito bite, and then returns home and is bitten by a local mosquito, that local mosquito gets infected, and then infects any other humans it bites.
Even if the infected person is a male, he can transmit the virus through sex. Since Zika in adults often comes without symptoms or with very mild flu-like symptoms, it’s easy to be overlooked. This is what poses the greatest problem.
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