Zika Is Now Thought to Be Sexually Transmittable From Women to Men

A New York City woman in her 20s has infected her male partner with Zika virus through sex, the first time female-to-male transmission of the germ has been documented.

According to TIME:

Her doctor took samples of her blood and urine, and Zika was detected. A week after having sex, the male partner developed a fever, rash, joint pain and eye redness. He visited the same doctor as the woman, and Zika was identified in his urine sample.

Zika is usually spread by mosquitoes, and health officials have known for some time that men can spread it through sex. However, whether women could spread it from sex was unclear. The new finding prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to update its advice in a report issued Friday. The CDC now advises pregnant women to use protection if their sex partner has traveled to a Zika-infected region, whether the partner is a man or a woman.

The Zika virus causes only a mild illness, at worst, in most people. But infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects. Fortunately, the New York woman was not pregnant.

This discovery comes on the heels of Thursday's Senate vote to shoot down a bill that would provide funding to fight the spread of Zika.