Peru’s health ministry has confirmed the first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus in the country.
Health minister Anibal Velasquez said in a press conference that a woman in Lima had contracted the virus from her husband who had recently returned from Venezuela.
Velasquez explained that the man returned from Venezuela on March 16 and his wife showed symptoms starting on March 28. After samples of mosquito populations in the La Molina district where they live came back negative for Zika, the man’s semen tested positive.
Velasquez added that his ministry would distribute condoms to Peruvian citizens returning from countries with high rates of Zika such as Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.
“These condoms will be given out mainly at the airport, and people should use them for at least eight weeks, which is the estimated life cycle of the virus,” Velasquez said.
The woman infected by her husband is the seventh case of Zika in Peru, and the first considered to be a native case. However the Zika virus has not yet infected Peru’s Aedes Aegypti, or yellow fever mosquito, populations.
Sources
Reportan en Perú primer caso autóctono del zika por transmisión sexual (Andina)
Zika en el Perú: primer caso autóctono por transmisión sexual (El Comercio)