CDC: Couples exposed to Zika should wait six months to get pregnant

Men who’ve possibly been exposed to the Zika virus should wait at least six months before trying to conceive with their female partners, even if they haven’t shown symptoms of the disease, the Obama administration said Friday in a major shift from its previous advice of eight weeks.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said men in that category should also use a condom during sex for six months.

The agency said its advice reflects “what’s been learned” about how long Zika can persist in semen and the danger of sexually transmitted Zika, which is typically spread by mosquitoes and can cause serious birth defects in infants born to infected mothers.

Four out of five people who are infected with Zika do not show symptoms, so the CDC’s advice pertains to those who may have been exposed to the disease through travel.

It said women with who were possibly exposed to the virus, but don’t live in areas of transmission, should wait at least eight weeks before trying to conceive. Those who live where Zika is spreading should discuss the potential risks and prevention strategies with their doctors, the CDC said.

Mosquitoes have spread the Zika virus throughout Latin America and infected more than 21,000 people in Puerto Rico, plus 139 more in Florida, though the administration’s concern extends beyond bug bites. In August, the Food and Drug Administration urged blood banks across America to begin screening donors for Zika.

Meanwhile, after months of bickering, Congress this week passed a stopgap funding bill that includes $1.1 billion to combat Zika.

The CDC will use nearly $400 million of the money to support efforts to knock out disease-carrying mosquitoes in the U.S. and abroad, although $44 million from this pool will be used to reimburse states that lost a portion of their public health and prevention funding to the Zika fight.

The bill also provides nearly $400 million for public and private entities pursuing a vaccine and better diagnostic tests for Zika.

Among other priorities, Congress provided $75 million to reimburse health providers that took care of uninsured people living in states and territories with active Zika transmission, and $40 million for community health centers in Puerto Rico and other territories.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, on Thursday said he is waiting for details on his state’s cut of the money, as locally acquired cases pop up in Miami Beach and isolated pockets of Miami-Dade County each day.

“After two visits to Washington, D.C., and months of calling on Congress to get something done, it is great to finally have federal funding approved. However, we are still waiting on many details about how this bill will be put to use,” Mr. Scott said. “We do not yet know how much funding our state is getting and we do not know when we will receive it. But one thing is absolutely certain: Florida needs this funding now. Our pregnant women and their developing babies cannot wait.”

Though more than 3,500 travelers have brought Zika home with them to the U.S. mainland, Florida is the only state to experience mosquito-borne transmission.

The first locally acquired cases were discovered in late July in a square-mile block of the Wynwood neighborhood just north of downtown Miami.

Mr. Scott declared the artsy district to be Zika-free on Sept. 16, after a campaign of aerial spraying to knock out Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and their eggs, though cases continue to pile up in nearby Miami Beach.

The governor encouraged local residents to join him late Friday for a “Dine Out Wynwood” event to support businesses that took a hit during the outbreak.