Aedes aegypty mosquitoes are the primary vectors of the Zika virus, which causes catastrophic microcephaly in children born to infected mothers. Only earlier this year it became clear that the viral agent can be transmitted not only from mosquito to person, but also from person to person during sexual contact. Although the disease is still believed to be caused by a mosquito bite, new research reveals that the virus can survive for weeks and even months in the blood of infected people and is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids – semen and vaginal secretions. Confirmed methods of transmission so far have only involved transmission of the virus from mosquito to human, from human to mosquito, and from mother to unborn and still fetus. The newly discovered ability of the disease to be transmitted between people through sexual contact reveals the danger of spreading the dangerous disease around the world. The main problem with the disease is that most people have no distinctive symptoms. It is most often understood that women of childbearing age are infected only after their child is born with the disease’s characteristic severe microencephaly, a congenital malformation in which the circumference of the cranial box lags in development and is about twice the normal size . NEWS_MORE_BOX According to research from the heart of the disease – South America, in Colombia 47% of confirmed Zika cases are the result of sexual transmission of the disease, in Brazil it is 38%. In the US, where a boom in the disease is expected this year, tough measures are being taken only against insect carriers. Specialists warn all women of childbearing age and all men wishing to become fathers – extreme care is needed to avoid the contagious disease. Sexual contact with persons who have traveled to Central or South America in the past 6-18 months is strongly discouraged, even with the use of protection. Effective tests (blood and urine) are available that can determine whether a person is a carrier of the virus before having sex.