Latest Zika Puzzle: How U.S. Patient Infected Caregiver

“The mysterious Zika virus continues to surprise health scientists. On Monday, U.S. health officials said they were trying to determine how a now-deceased elderly Utah man who had Zika managed to infect a family caregiver.Zika is normally spread by mosquitoes and can also be transmitted sexually. But health officials said neither appears to have played a role in this case. For one thing, the disease-spreading mosquitoes aren’t usually found at the altitudes where the unidentified man lived in northern Utah.”

“The new case in Utah is a surprise, showing that we still have more to learn about Zika,” said Dr. Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention working in Utah. Dr. Satish Pillai, incident manager for CDC Zika Response, said, “Utah health officials confirmed today a new case of Zika. This person is associated with the family of the patient who died in late June. Based on what we know now, that person [who has since recovered] had not traveled to an area with Zika and has not had sex with someone infected with Zika or a returning traveler.”

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