• Health
  • Zika

Scientists Find Zika Might Be Transmitted by Oral Sex

2 minute read
RECIFE, BRAZIL - JUNE 02: Aedes aegypti mosquitos are seen in a lab at the Fiocruz Institute on June 2, 2016 in Recife, Brazil. Microcephaly is a birth defect linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus where infants are born with abnormally small heads. The Brazilian city of Recife and surrounding Pernambuco state remain the epicenter of the Zika virus outbreak, which has now spread to many countries in the Americas. A group of health experts recently called for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to be postponed or cancelled due to the Zika threat but the WHO (World Health Organization) rejected the proposal. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Aedes aegypti mosquitos are seen in a lab at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife, Brazil, on June 2, 2016.Mario Tama—Getty Images
By Katie Reilly

It’s possible the Zika virus can be transmitted by oral sex, scientists said in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

In a case reported in France, a 24-year-old woman was infected with the virus after having sex with a 46-year-old man who had just returned to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, a hot zone for Zika, the New York Times reported. The pair had sex several times between Feb. 11 and Feb. 20, involving vaginal sex without ejaculation and oral sex with ejaculation. The woman became ill on Feb. 20, and both were tested on Feb. 23, the Times reported.

While the test results showed the man had high levels of the virus in his semen and urine, he had none in his blood or saliva. The woman, on the other hand, had the virus in her urine and saliva, but a vaginal swab tested negative.

Read more: 10 Zika Facts You Need to Know Now

Scientists had already confirmed cases of sexually transmitted Zika, leading the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention to release guidelines on prevention in February.

“I don’t think this changes anything, but it shows you how elaborate the number of avenues of possible transmission can be,” said Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, in an interview with the Times.

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com