The first confirmed case of sexual transmission of the Zika virus in the San Diego region was announced Friday by San Diego County health officials.
A woman contracted the disease last month after being intimate with a man who acquired the virus during a trip to Colombia, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency.
Both the man and woman fully recovered from the disease, which usually has only mild health effects, but is suspected to be the cause of severe birth defects in South America.
The San Diego-area woman was not pregnant.
San Diego County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten told KPBS that if people get infected, they need to take precautions to avoid a pregnancy.
"If you get infected, don't try to conceive for eight weeks from the onset of symptoms for women and six months from the onset of symptoms for men," Wooten said. "And if you do during that period, make sure you use the appropriate protection like the use of condoms."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which confirmed the case via laboratory testing this week, has warned pregnant women not to travel to countries where Zika is present. The virus is suspected to cause microcephaly — a condition where babies' heads and brains are smaller than normal — in cases when mothers were infected during pregnancy.
Health officials say that around one in five people infected with the virus actually experience symptoms, which are usually mild and include fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis, also known as "pink eye."
Zika is mostly spread to people by mosquitoes. No mosquito transmissions have been noted in the U.S., according to the CDC.
With contributions by KPBS News reporter Erik Anderson.
