Spain confirms first sexually transmitted Zika case

MADRID, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in the Madrid Regional Community have confirmed the first sexually transmitted case of the Zika virus in Spain.

The announcement was made late on Friday night with the news that a woman resident in the Madrid region has been infected with the virus after maintaining relations with her partner who had recently returned from a trip to Latin America, where the disease is relatively common.

The couple are both receiving treatment and are reported to be in good condition, although authorities have reminded anyone visiting Latin America of the need to wait for eight weeks before resuming sexual relations to avoid the risk of possibly transmitting the Zika virus.

So far the Spanish Ministry of Health has confirmed 158 cases of Zika in Spain. All of these cases, with the exception of the case mentioned above, involve people who were infected while outside of Spain.

A number of 21 of the 158 people infected have been confirmed as pregnant women with two cases of malformed fetuses being detected, one in the Catalan region and one in Galicia, to date.