Zika Infection: Men ‘Blow It Off’

By: Brianna DAlessio South, Marketing Specialist

A new study regarding the Zika virus says the virus can live for months in semen, raising the risk of infection higher for women having unprotected sex. The New York Times reported on new evidence supporting the impact sexual intercourse plays in transmitting the virus. Women are more likely to be tested for Zika than men after traveling to infected areas, but men are returning to the US after traveling to countries were the virus is prevalent, and are not getting tested. As Donald Berry, a biostatistician at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston noted, “Women’s fear of Zika is so great, and women seek to find out whether they have Zika, while men blow it off.”

President Obama urged Congress on Friday to again, pass legislation before the summer recess. “We have not seen the House and Senate come together in a sensible way to put forward the dollars that we have requested that have been budgeted to get the job done,” Obama stated. Meanwhile, Houston confirmed it’s eleventh Zika case, adding to a list of infected Houstonians who had traveled to one of the Zika affected areas.