一位带菌的美国生物学家似乎仅仅是因为在塞内加尔进行实地考察后与妻子的一番亲热，而无意中书写了病毒学的历史。

在美国《新兴传染病》杂志上刚刚发表的一项研究显示，科林斯堡科罗拉多大学的研究人员Brian Foy（图右）通过性接触而将寨卡病毒传给了他的妻子。这一虫媒病毒是一种不起眼的病原体，能够导致关节疼痛和极度疲劳。研究人员指出，如果事实真是这样，那么这将成为人类通过性行为传播虫媒疾病的第一个例证，从而为研究传染病的途径及发病提供了新的视点。

原文出处：

Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 May   DOI: 10.3201/eid1705.101939

Probable Non–Vector-borne Transmission of Zika Virus, Colorado, USA

Brian D. Foy, Kevin C. Kobylinski, Joy L. Chilson Foy, Bradley J. Blitvich, Amelia Travassos da Rosa, Andrew D. Haddow, Robert S. Lanciotti, and Robert B. Tesh

Clinical and serologic evidence indicate that 2 American scientists contracted Zika virus infections while working in Senegal in 2008. One of the scientists transmitted this arbovirus to his wife after his return home. Direct contact is implicated as the transmission route, most likely as a sexually transmitted infection.

Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus, has been isolated from sentinel monkeys, mosquitoes, and sick persons in Africa and Southeast Asia (1,2). Serologic surveys indicate that ZIKV infections can be relatively common among persons in southeastern Senegal and other areas of Africa, but that ZIKV-associated disease may be underreported or misdiagnosed. In 2007, a large outbreak of ZIKV infection occurred on Yap Island in the southwestern Pacific that infected ≈70% of the island’s inhabitants (3), which highlighted this virus as an emerging pathogen. The purpose of this study was to investigate and report 3 unusual cases of arboviral disease that occurred in Colorado in 2008.