Zika carrier’s home inspected

A disease control team surveyed for mosquitoes Monday around the home of a Kauai resident who recently traveled to Latin America and contracted the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects.

The state Department of Health warns that the individual could still be infectious with the mosquito-borne illness and has been advised to stay indoors to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the team “found no mosquito activity and made the decision not to spray.”

The Health Department is not releasing any information on the Kauai individual, citing privacy concerns. This is the second Hawaii resident to get the infection this year.

The Health Department reported March 3 that a Hawaii resident got the virus while traveling in the Pacific. Travel-related Zika cases numbered four in 2015 and two in 2014.

“Today’s announcement by the Hawaii Department of Health … reinforces the need for community awareness and preventive measures that should be taken to help prevent Zika, dengue and similar diseases from becoming established here,” Kauai County Mayor Bernard Carvalho said in a statement, emphasizing that the disease was not contracted on Kauai.

He also said he is working closely with the Kauai Civil Defense Agency, the Kauai District Health Office and other county and state partners in preventive and preparedness efforts.

However, mosquitoes are not the only way to get the Zika virus. The World Health Organization said earlier this month “reports and investigations in several countries strongly suggest that sexual transmission of the virus is more common than previously assumed.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now reporting on its website that the virus can be spread by a man to his sex partners.

“In known cases of likely sexual transmission, the men had Zika symptoms,” the CDC says. “But the virus can be spread before, during and after men have symptoms. The virus can be present in semen longer than in blood.”

A third way to acquire the infection is in the womb, where the virus can cause an infected infant to be born with microcephaly, or an unusually small head.

A baby born with microcephaly in January at an Oahu hospital was the first U.S. case of brain development problems linked to Zika.

The mother, who contracted the disease last year, had lived in Brazil in May. The woman was one of four Zika cases in 2015.

Health Director Virginia Pressler said the department anticipates an increase in imported Zika cases and urges the public to take steps to get rid of standing water around the home to reduce mosquito breeding sites, and to use repellent or protective clothing to prevent mosquito bites.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends that women who are pregnant or who might become pregnant take precautions to avoid travel to areas where Zika is endemic.

A recent Brazilian study tracking 88 pregnant women who had Zika-like symptoms, published March 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that grave outcomes for developing babies can come at any stage of pregnancy.

They include abnormal brain development, in-utero deaths, poor growth development, problems with the placenta, low amniotic fluid — which can require an emergency C-section — and vision problems, the Associated Press reported.

The CDC warns anyone whose male partner has lived in or traveled to an area with Zika to use a condom or not have sex. Pregnant women especially are urged, “Protect your pregnancy.”

It is unknown how long the virus is present in the semen of infected men or whether those who never developed symptoms can have it in their semen, the CDC says.

Testing for Zika virus in semen is not widely available, and is not being offered by the state laboratory.

“We have a limited understanding of how to interpret the results of such tests, so testing of semen is not recommended,” the CDC says. “As we learn more, these tests may become more helpful to determine the risk of sexual transmission of Zika.”

Zika virus transmission has been documented in 59 countries and territories since 2007. But “France, Italy and the United States have reported locally acquired infection in the absence of any known mosquito vectors, probably through sexual transmission,” the WHO says.

It is unknown whether a woman can transmit Zika to her sex partners or whether it can be spread through body fluids other than blood and semen.

Zika symptoms are usually mild and include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes, usually lasting no more than a week, but could also cause Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Meanwhile, Hawaii island’s locally acquired dengue outbreak, also spread by the same albopictus mosquitoes as Zika, has slowed to a near standstill. There were 262 confirmed dengue cases as of Monday.