By SUSAN ABRAM From Daily Breeze

A Los Angeles County woman has become the first local person to acquire the Zika virus through sexual contact after her partner returned from Mexico, public health officials announced Thursday.

Her partner, a male resident, traveled to Mexico and developed symptomatic Zika infection in early November, health officials said. She didn’t travel with him but developed the Zika infection after he returned to Los Angeles, public health officials added in a statement. The woman is one of nine statewide that contracted the virus through sex since 2015, state health officials said Thursday.

Since 2015, there have been 122 cases of Zika infection reported in Los Angeles County. Of those, 121 people acquired the virus from the bite of an infected mosquito during travel to areas where Zika is occurring.

Urgent concern about the Zika virus began to increase in 2015 and 2016 as news spread about the disease’s affect on newborn babies in Brazil. Federal and state health departments issued travel warnings to Latin American countries and the Caribbean where mosquitoes carrying the virus had been found. In California, there have been 634 cases since 2015 according to the most recent data from state officials. Almost all has been contracted through travel.

Only about 18 percent of those were from 2017, showing a decrease in the number of people who are contracting the disease while traveling, according to state data.

There have been no locally, mosquito acquired Zika infection cases is California to date, state officials said, but an education effort is underway, including a video,  to continue to warn travelers how to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes when in countries that are most affected.

While the travel warnings, the number of people who contract the virus and urgency have waned in California and nationwide, public health officials still caution that Zika is present in other countries.

“Although Zika cases are decreasing regionally, transmission continues to occur in Mexico, Latin America, and other areas,” health officials said in an advisory to health providers. “Providers should continue to review mosquito bite prevention measures and safe sexual practices with persons traveling to areas with Zika as well as recommend that pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant delay non-essential travel to areas with active Zika transmission.”

While the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus have been spotted throughout Los Angeles County, there have been no cases of the disease transmitted by local mosquitoes.

“This case is a reminder to take precautions during sex or avoid sex if you or your partner have traveled to an area with risk of Zika,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, interim Health Officer for Los Angeles County. “Sexual transmission of Zika can occur with or without symptoms. Given the risk for birth defects, the greatest concern is transmission of the virus to women who are pregnant or attempting to become pregnant.”

Zika is spread primarily through the bite of the black-and-white-striped Aedes mosquito, but the virus also can be passed through sex, health officials said.

Also, babies born to mothers who are infected have a greater chance of having birth defects. Nine infected women in California gave birth to two babies with microcephaly, a condition in which a child’s head is significantly smaller than normal.

Some symptoms of the Zika virus include acute onset of fever, a flat red rash and joint pain. Although death is rare, one in five people infected can become very ill, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

IMAGE:FILE – In this Jan. 18, 2016, file photo, a female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires a blood meal on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo’s University in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Aedes aegypti can spread the Zika virus, which is spreading in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean and usually causes a mild illness but is now suspected in an unusual birth defect and possibly other health issues. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

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