Dallas County reports first U.S. case of Zika virus transmission

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The first reported case of the Zika virus contracted in the United States has been found in Dallas County, local health officials said on Tuesday, adding that there were no reports of the virus being transmitted by mosquitoes in the Texas county. Dallas County Health and Human Services said the case in Dallas was acquired through sexual transmission, adding that it received confirmation of the infection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The person infected did not travel and acquired the virus from someone who had been to Venezuela, the county health department said on its twitter feed. It did not provide further information on the Texas infection due to privacy concerns. The CDC said it did not investigate how the virus was transmitted. There have been eight cases of Zika in Texas, seven of which occurred through foreign travel, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. Six of the eight cases have been in the Houston area and two in the Dallas area, it said. In medical literature, there has been only one case of Zika transmitted sexually and one case in which the virus was detected in semen. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)