Zika Virus in Semen

A new letter to the editor published online in Emerging Infectious Diseases adds to the data about Zika virus persistence in semen.

A 68 year-old man developed symptomatic Zika virus infection after traveling to the Cook Islands. Zika virus was detected in his semen by polymerase-chain-reaction testing as far out as 62 days after onset of his illness. The authors were unable to culture Zika virus directly from his semen, however.

The full text of the article is available here.

There is still much that is unknown about potential sexual transmission of Zika virus, including how commonly Zika virus persistence in semen occurs, how long this persistence is for and how commonly sexual transmission occurs.

Current recommendations from the CDC for preventing sexual transmission of Zika virus infection can be found in the February 12, 2016 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).