Peru reports first sexually transmitted Zika case

A blood samples from pregnant women are analyzed for the presence of the Zika virus, at Guatemalan Social Security maternity hospital in Guatemala City, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. According to Guatemalan health authorities, the country does not have any confirmed case of pregnant women infected by Zika virus. The virus is suspected to cause microcephaly in newborn children. There is no treatment or vaccine for the mosquito-borne virus, which is in the same family of viruses as dengue. AP File Photo

LIMA, Peru—Peru has suffered its first case of sexually transmitted, locally contracted Zika virus, authorities said Saturday.

Health Minister Anibal Velasquez said that after a woman tested positive for Zika officials went to see if she could have been bitten by a transmitter mosquito at her home.

When they found no mosquito presence, they tested her partner’s sperm. He tested positive for the virus, Velasquez told reporters.

The woman and her partner were treated in hospital and are now healthy, he added.

The virus has been linked to cases of microcephaly in babies born to mothers who have Zika, as well as to Guillain-Barre, a disorder that causes the immune system to attack parts of the nervous system that controls muscle strength.

READ: Scientists: More research needed into Zika-microcephaly link

Brazil, where the Zika virus was first detected in Latin America in early 2015, has had a surge in cases of microcephaly coinciding with the Zika outbreak.

READ: Brazil confirms 907 Zika-linked microcephaly cases

On Thursday, neighboring Colombia reported the country’s first two cases of microcephaly associated with Zika.

Some 70,000 clinical cases of Zika have been reported to date in Colombia, and as many as 200,000 cases are expected before the epidemic peaks.