(ScienceAlert) A mysterious and extreme case of Zika in the US has shown that we still have a lot to learn when it comes to the virus – and suggests the virus may be capable of being spread by physical contact.
Earlier this year health authorities in Utah were baffled when a patient contracted Zika – but not via any of the usual channels through which the virus is known to spread.
Previously, scientists thought Zika could only be contracted from the bites of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, through semen, or by being passed on from pregnant women to their foetuses.
But a new study, led by researchers from the University of Utah, has examined the Utah episode, and concludes that Zika virus – at least in this very peculiar case – appears to have been spread through physical contact alone.