Zika virus appears to be able to persist in a woman’s genital tract even after it is no longer detectable in blood and urine, according to a new case study.
The findings raise the possibility of woman-to-man sexual transmission of the virus, as well as mother-to-child vertical transmission.
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Nadia Prisant, MD, of the University Hospital Center Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, France, and her colleagues reported the case of a 27-year-old woman in France who tested positive for Zika virus infection in May. The initial blood test was positive, while the urine sample was negative (Lancet Infect Dis. 2016 Jul 11. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099[16]30193-1).
A genital swab, endocervical swab, and a cervical mucus sample were collected 3 days after symptom onset and all tested positive for Zika virus RNA. On day 11 after symptom onset, the woman’s blood and urine samples both tested negative, but her cervical mucus continued to test positive for Zika virus RNA.
The researchers stated that this is the first report of the presence of Zika virus in the genital tract of a woman, as well as its possible persistence after the virus is no longer detectable in blood and urine samples.
“Although we have not tested the infectiousness of a locally situated vaginal virus, its very presence in the female genital tract poses notable challenges, implying that sexual transmission from women to men could occur, as is the case for other viral infections,” the researchers wrote. “Zika virus presence in the female genital tract also means that vertical transmission from mother to fetus needs to be assessed, since this virus is a member of the Flaviviridae family, which includes hepatitis C, in which vertical transmission from mother to child can occur in up to 10% of pregnancies.”
The researchers reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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