Zika News: Puerto Rico Cases, Guillain-Barre Spikes, Persistence in Semen

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Here are the latest reports on the Zika virus:

• Puerto Rico had 30 confirmed cases of Zika virus from late November 2015 through January 2016, MMWR reports. Just one was travel related. One case was diagnosed in a patient hospitalized with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and another in a pregnant woman. Zika is likely to spread across Puerto Rico, the CDC asserts, given how common the Aedes aegypti mosquito is there.

• The World Health Organization reported spikes in GBS in two more countries: Colombia had 86 cases, or three times the expected amount, from mid-December through mid-January; all had symptoms of Zika infection. In Venezuela, 252 GBS cases were reported in January, frequently with Zika symptoms.

• Zika virus can persist in semen for as long as 2 months after symptom onset, according to a letter in Emerging Infectious Diseases. A U.K. man infected with Zika in 2014 while visiting the Cook Islands had Zika detected in his semen 62 days after becoming ill.

• The WHO says a test for Zika could be just weeks away, according to the New York Times. However, vaccine trials won't begin for at least 18 months.