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Sex

Scientists Say Zika May Be Transmitted via Oral Sex

Because you don't have enough shit to worry about already.
Photo of theAedes species of mosquito via Wiki Commons

Just when you thought about maybe putting your fear of the insidious Zika virus and its spread aside (in favor of more pressing concerns like huge-ass gators), scientists are raising the possibility that the ailment may be transmitted via oral sex, as the New York Timesreports.

On Friday, experts sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine about the new concern and described a possible case in France. There, a 46-year-old had just returned to Paris from a trip to Rio de Janeiro, where he'd been experiencing the symptoms of Zika—fever, headache, a rash. He and his partner, 24, had "oral sex with ejaculation," and she became ill soon after. (The Times really gets into the weeds of the couple's sex life, if that's something you're into.) Though it's only one case, it "shows you how elaborate the number of avenues of possible transmission can be," Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, told the paper. Until early this year, there was only one verified case of sexual transmission of the virus. But sexual transmission would an important, er, development in the virus (and attendant panic). There have now been cases reported in ten countries where no mosquitos carry the virus.

Wrap 'em up, kids.

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