A family contact of the first Zika-related death in the U.S. has contracted the Zika virus, but apparently not by a mosquito bite or through sexual transmission, according to state and federal officials.
"The new case in Utah is a surprise, showing that we still have more to learn about Zika," said Erin Staples, MD, PhD, CDC's medical epidemiologist on the ground in Utah. "Fortunately, the patient recovered quickly, and from what we have seen with more than 1,300 travel-associated cases of Zika in the continental United States and Hawaii, non-sexual spread from one person to another does not appear to be common."
A CDC Emergency Response Team is in Utah working with state and local public health officials. They are investigating how the second infection was transmitted by interviewing and testing family members and healthcare workers who had contact with the deceased, as well as trapping and testing mosquitoes to assess the risk of local transmission.
"We have found no evidence that mosquitoes here in Utah are transmitting the Zika virus," Angela Dunn, MD, deputy state epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health, told The New York Times.
The deceased patient in Utah had uniquely high levels of the virus in his blood — more than 100,000 times what was seen in other people with Zika infections, according to the CDC.
The deceased patient was treated at University of Utah Health Care in Salt Lake City. Ed Clark, MD, the associate vice president for clinical affairs at University of Utah, tells Becker's he is "confident that the appropriate protective measures were employed by all staff" at the hospital.
However, in light of the new infection and "in the spirit of overabundant caution," University of Utah Health is interviewing its staff and offering appropriate testing as necessary, Dr. Clark says.
As for how the subsequent Zika infection occurred, Dr. Clark says people are "stumped," hence the ongoing investigation.
As of July 13, there are 1,306 Zika cases in the United States.