Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 22 February (HL6127), what assessment they have made of how long men who carry the Zika virus remain infected, and whether there is a lasting risk that they can infect their partner.

Zika virus has been detected up to 62 days in the semen of men with symptomatic Zika infections, but this does not indicate whether the man can pass on the infection for this length of time.

Current Public Health England (PHE)/National Travel Health Network and Centre guidance advises that if a man has clinical illness compatible with Zika virus infection, precautions are taken to avoid transmission for six months after returning from a Zika transmission area. The PHE guidance is believed to be precautionary in light of the available evidence, and the recommendations are modified as evidence emerges. The current guidance can be found in the attached document Zika infection – Guidance related to Sexual Transmission.

The guidance is reviewed regularly by the pre-Scientific Advisory Group of Experts and is in line with guidance from World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.