French woman contracts Zika through sex

A health official says a first case of sexually transmitted Zika virus has been diagnosed in France in a woman.

This is one of the few cases of the disease passing through sex Source: AAP

Francois Bourdillon, the director general of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, told BFM television on 

Saturday that "the patient had not travelled, her companion was returning from Brazil" where he had been infected with the Zika virus.

He said both were "doing well".

Zika is primarily spread by mosquito bites, and transmission through sex is considered rare.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week two cases of sexual transmission of Zika from male travellers to their sexual partners had been confirmed and four others are probable amid an investigation into 14 potential cases.