Elsevier

Journal of Clinical Virology

Volume 96, November 2017, Pages 110-115
Journal of Clinical Virology

Persistence and infectivity of Zika virus in semen after returning from endemic areas: Report of 5 cases

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2017.10.006Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Detection of ZIKV RNA in semen by molecular testing can be used for diagnosis of Zika virus infection of cases returning from endemic areas and men can act as ZiKV reservoir during months.

  • ZIKV is excreted by both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients (68 days) and longer than in symptomatic ones.

  • Cell culture performed from semen samples demonstrated that the detected virus was infectious.

  • Phylogenetical analysis strongly suggested male to female sexual transmission in one case in this study.

Abstract

Background

There are limited data about the persistence and infectivity of Zika virus in semen of symptomatic travelers returning from endemic areas and even less data in asymptomatic cases.

Objective

We investigated the persistence and infectivity of ZIKA virus in semen in five patients with Zika virus infection returning to Spain from endemic areas.

Study design

We evaluated the epidemiological, clinical and virological characteristic of the five patients. In semen we detected ZIKA virus by PCR, partial sequencing and cell culture. We also performed phylogenetic analysis.

Results

We detected Zika virus RNA (Asian lineage) by PCR in semen samples from day 14th to day 96th since the day of illness onset. Semen viral culture was positive for Zika virus in two patients at days of illness 30 and 69 by virus propagation. Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggested male to female sexual transmission in a couple returning from Maldives.

Conclusion

This case series confirms that Zika virus RNA can be detected in semen up to three months after infection. Viral culture of semen samples shows prolonged infectivity that can lead to sexual transmission of Zika virus.

Keywords

Zika virus
Semen samples
Arbovirus
Sexual transmission
Phylogenetic analysis
Zika virus persistence

Cited by (0)

1

Both authors contributed equally.

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