Health authorities fear a case of Zika virus may have been sexually transmitted in New Zealand.
The Ministry of Health on Thursday said it appeared a man who contracted the virus had passed it on to his female partner who had never travelled to a Zika-affected country.
"There is limited scientific evidence to suggest the virus can be sexually transmitted - it's very rare," Ministry spokesperson Don Mackie said.
He said the other possibility was a mosquito had come in the man's luggage, which had then infected his partner.
Dr Mackie said the risk to the public was extremely low but the investigation into the infection would continue.
"Surveillance of the property is being carried out to check for any exotic mosquitoes. At this stage, none have yet been detected."
Both infected people have now fully recovered.
The World Health Organisation said in January the virus was "spreading explosively" and could infect as many as four million people in the Americas alone.
It is the fourth time the WHO has declared a global health emergency since the International Health Regulations were enacted in 2007 after declarations for Swine Flu in 2009 along with Polio and Ebola in 2014.
Thousands of children in Brazil have been born with suspected cases of microcephaly, in which infants are born with smaller-than-usual brains, which is linked to the Zika virus.
In 2014 there were 57 Zika virus notifications in New Zealand and six in 2015.
As of last Thursday, there had been 12 confirmed cases and two possible ones in 2016, with 11 of those people having been infected in Tonga.
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