Chile confirms first sexually transmitted case of Zika virus

Published November 30, 2016

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A new study suggests the worrisome Zika virus apparently has been in Brazil at least a year longer than experts previously thought. Some experts have speculated the virus first came to the Americas sometime in 2014. But the new study, led by Brazilian researchers, concludes Zika landed in Brazil a year earlier. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Chilean health officials say they've registered the first locally acquired case of the Zika virus, which was sexually transmitted within the country.

The Health Ministry said in a statement Saturday that a 46-year-old woman got Zika inside Chile having unprotected sex. Her partner recently returned from a visit to Haiti, where he was infected with the virus.

The mosquito Aedes Aegypti that transmits Zika and other viruses including dengue is not present in Chilean continental areas. There previously were 10 confirmed cases of Zika in Chile contracted during travels abroad.

Chile's health authorities recommend protected sex for four weeks for people returning from areas where Zika exists.

Aedes Aegypti has been detected in the Easter Island territory, in the Pacific Ocean more than 2,100 miles (3,500 kilometers) from Chile's mainland.