Zika virus found in saliva but kissing risk likely to be low

KEEP on kissing. At least that’s the advice for now, with the discovery of active Zika Virus in saliva and urine.The finding, by researchers at the Flavivirus Molecular Biology Laboratory in Fiocruz, Brazil, adds to concern following recent confirmation that the virus can spread through sex.

“We are not yet sure if Zika can be transmitted to others through saliva or urine,” Myrna Bonaldo, whose team found the virus in the urine of one patient with Zika-like symptoms and in the saliva of another, said this.
But Jonathan Ball of the University of Nottingham, UK, says the family of viruses that Zika belongs to are primarily insect-borne, spreading from bloodstream to bloodstream.

“The risk of Zika infection from infected saliva while kissing is very low, but not impossible“
He suggests there may be a small chance that virus particles in saliva could infect someone with bleeding gums. “The risk from kissing is very low, but not impossible.”

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