Sexual transmission of Zika virus in Germany, April 2016.
Zika virus (ZIKV), an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus, causes a mild dengue fever-like illness but has recently been associated with neurological disease and severe birth defects. The virus is currently causing a large epidemic in the Americas. Here, we report a male-to-female sexual transmission of ZIKV in Germany in April 2016, following travel to Puerto Rico of the male patient, demonstrated by subsequent seroconversions and molecular identification of identical virus sequences from both patients.
Robert Koch Institute, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Division of Gastrointestinal Infections, Zoonoses and Tropical Infections, Berlin, Germany.
Christina
C
Frank
Daniel
D
Cadar
Alexander
A
Schlaphof
Neele
N
Neddersen
Stephan
S
Günther
Jonas
J
Schmidt-Chanasit
Dennis
D
Tappe
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011647:Puerto Rico; D015229:Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology*; D014195:Travel; D047568:Unsafe Sex; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology*
Germany; PCR; Semen; Zika virus; sexual transmission