Can Zika Infection Be Transmitted Through Sexual Intercourse?

Posted on Mon, 6 Mar 2017

Question: I was recently in Jamaica and had testing completed in accordance to cdc recommendationso to r/o Zika before trying to conceive. My results are negative. My husband is supposed to get tested as well. His insurance is trickier but he is agreeable. My question is, we have had unprotected sex (oral and vaginal) so if he had it, wouldn't I have had a positive Zika test?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (18 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
it's possible but not certain

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

if he had it then it's possible for transmission to occur during unprotected. Possible but not certain though! Also if you were tested for the antibody against zika, it would have taken a couple of weeks after transmission before the antibody became positive, so there could be a 'window' period of negative testing. If you were tested for the virus itself (not the antibody against it) then a negative result would probably mean no transmission...

So in conclusion, although the most likely scenario is that both of you are negative for zika, it's not 100% certain.

Kind Regards!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar