This Flowchart Explains Whether Or Not You Should Get A Zika Test

Here are five things to know about getting a Zika virus test.

1. Women and children first.

And by that, we mean pregnant women are the first priority when it comes to testing. The virus can have a devastating effect on a developing fetus, and pregnant women are most at risk if they contract what’s generally considered a very mild mosquito-borne virus.

Because of this, if you’re a pregnant woman who has either traveled to an area affected by Zika or been potentially exposed to the virus through sexual contact with a sexual partner who has recently traveled to a Zika-affected area, you should get tested immediately if you start to experience symptoms like fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes (conjunctivitis). This applies to both gay and straight partners, as the CDC confirmed the first female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika virus last Friday. This case suggests a woman could pass on the Zika virus to her pregnant partner. 

Pregnant women who traveled to an affected area within eight weeks prior to conception can also request a test, said a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. 

This typically means the clinician will draw samples of blood, cerebrospinal fluid or amniotic fluid and send them off to a state laboratory.

The threat to pregnant women is so great that even women without symptoms can be tested anywhere from two to 12 weeks after they return from a Zika-affected country. And of course, standard prenatal care, which includes an ultrasound between 18 to 20 weeks, should be part of the care plan for pregnant travelers to check for signs of fetal infection.  

2. People with Zika virus symptoms and a travel history should be on guard for all mosquito-borne diseases. 

The symptoms of Zika virus might be so mild as to be negligible. But if you experience them, you should still visit your primary care physician and discuss your travel history, because the symptoms could be a sign of another disease that requires medical attention.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito can spread Zika, dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses to the people it bites, and these diseases all necessitate different levels of treatment and care. Just because you have a rash and a fever, that doesn’t mean you can assume it’s a “mild” Zika virus that doesn’t need medical attention.

“The fact that you have symptoms [after] coming back from an area where Zika has been transmitted doesn’t necessarily mean you have Zika,” said Dr. Neil Silverman, an obstetric infectious disease specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You could have dengue, which would be way worse.”

Dengue virus, also known as “break bone fever,” can progress to bleeding, organ failure and even death if left untreated. Death linked to Zika virus, meanwhile, is exceedingly rare, and the symptoms generally go away on their own with supportive care like rest, fluids and painkillers.

Men who experience symptoms or are diagnosed with Zika virus should use condoms for six months to prevent passing it on to a sexual partner, advises the CDC. And if the male traveler has a pregnant partner, the couple should either use condoms or abstain from sex throughout the entire pregnancy. The CDC is currently updating these guidelines to reflect the latest information on female sexual transmission. 

3. Travelers with no Zika virus symptoms have no medical reason to request a test.

If you’ve recently traveled to a Zika-affected country and you’ve experienced no symptoms, there’s no medical reason for you to get tested if you’re not pregnant. But can you request one anyway, just based on travel history alone?

Sorry, but no. While many people who get Zika virus will never experience symptoms, diagnostic tests are just too scarce a resource for someone to request one out of curiosity, or to see if they pose a risk to their sexual partner, said the CDPH. In fact, there is no such test.  

“They’re really trying to limit the number of people who get tested because if you start testing a large, low-risk population, you’re going to increase your number of false positive results,” said Silverman. “And two, you’ll completely overwhelm an already somewhat overwhelmed state-based laboratory testing system.”

To be on the safe side, men who attend the Olympics and don’t show any symptoms should use condoms or abstain from sex for eight weeks after returning to prevent Zika virus transmission to a sexual partner. 

4. Stick to the waiting period if you’re trying to conceive. 

Men and women who aren’t expecting but want to try conceiving after returning from a Zika-affected area should wait a certain amount of time, regardless of whether or not they exhibit symptoms.

Women should wait at least eight weeks after travel before trying to conceive. And if they experience Zika symptoms, they should wait at least eight weeks after the symptoms start before trying for a baby.

Men who have had symptoms should wait at least six months before trying to conceive.

5. Precautions don’t end once you return home. 

Finally, no matter which category you fall into, all Olympic travelers or people who have come back from other Zika-affected areas should continue preventing mosquito bites for up to three weeks after they arrive back home to avoid spreading the disease amongst the local mosquitos ? even if they don’t experience any symptoms. This warning is especially important considering that mosquito season will be in full swing in the U.S. during the Olympics.

It’s also important to remember that we’re still learning a lot about how the virus is transmitted. The CDC confirmed on Monday that a caregiver for a man who traveled to a Zika-affected area and died after an infection with the virus also contracted the illness. This case is exceedingly rare, as the caregiver neither visited a Zika-affected area nor had sex with the person who traveled to the Zika-affected area. Utah also doesn’t harbor the kind of mosquitos that typically transmit the virus, which means researchers are still trying to figure out how the caregiver became ill in the first place. 

“The new case in Utah is a surprise, showing that we still have more to learn about Zika,” said Dr. Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC in a statement. “Fortunately, the patient recovered quickly, and from what we have seen with more than 1,300 travel-associated cases of Zika in the continental United States and Hawaii, non-sexual spread from one person to another does not appear to be common.”