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ByMikeStobbe The Associated Press NEW YORK A sexually transmitted case of Zika in Texas has scientists scram- bling to understand how much of a risk infection through sex is for the usu- ally mosquito-spread ill- ness. Experts still stress that mosquitoes are the main culprit in the Zika epidemic menacing Latin Amer- ica and looming over the United States. "Mosquitoes would be the great river of transmis- sion, while sexual trans- mission is going to be akin to a mountain stream," said Dr. William Schaff- ner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt Uni- versity. But the Texas case has spurred more discussion about additional ways in which Zika and other ill- nesses, commonly thought to be carried only by mos- quitoes, might be spread. Other types of transmis- sion can be hard to spot in the midst of outbreaks in which many mosquito- borne infections are occur- ring, noted Dr. Ali Khan, a former disease investigator for the U.S. Centers for Dis- ease Control and Preven- tion. "It's very hard to parse this out in the middle of an epidemic," said Khan, now dean of the University of Nebraska's college of pub- lic health. Discerning something like sexual transmission would have to occur in a place where an outbreak was not raging, he said. That's what happened in Dallas. The current Zika epi- demic is on track to cause millions of infections in Latin America and the Ca- ribbean, but no transmis- sion was reported in the United States until the Dal- las case this week. Health officials said a person there — who had not traveled to an outbreak area — was infected. An investi- gation concluded the person caught the virus through sex with a person who had recently returned from Ven- ezuela, where Zika infec- tions have been growing. Officials released few de- tails about the case, except to say both patients have recovered. But it wasn't the first to raise the possibility of sexual transmission of the virus. A Colorado State Univer- sity researcher, Brian Foy, picked up the virus in Af- rica and apparently spread it to his wife back home in 2008. More recently, it was found in one man's semen in Tahiti. Now, in the wake of the Dallas case, "we're all kind of scrambling in the scien- tific community how best to tackle this and how best to research it," said Foy. Most people infected with Zika experience, at the most, only mild symptoms. But mounting evidence in Brazil has suggested a con- nection between the virus and babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads. The Zika epidemic and possible link to microceph- aly cases in Brazil prompted the World Health Organi- zation to declare a global emergency on Monday, call- ing the virus' rapid spread and its apparent link to the birth defect an "extraor- dinary event" that poses a threat to the rest of the world. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said Wednesday that the Texas sexual trans- mission case is "obviously a concern." "We need to know more about how likely this is to happen. We also have to un- derstand whether there are other human-to-human transmission routes, such as blood transfusion, such as mother-to-child trans- mission," he said. Perhaps a bigger worry than sex is what dangers may lurk in blood donations from people who have been in Zika outbreak areas, said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, a Colum- bia University infectious diseases researcher. "I would raise caution that any blood used in pregnant women should be tested for the presence of Zika virus," something that currently doesn't hap- pen, Lipkin said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says there are no approved tests for routine screening of blood donations for Zika virus, but it is looking into the is- sue. Zika virus usually re- mains in the blood of an in- fected person for a few days but it can be found longer in some people, the CDC says. This week, the Red Cross said they are ask- ing travelers to Zika out- break countries to wait at least 28 days before donat- ing blood. On Wednesday, Cana- dian health officials an- nounced that people who have travelled outside of Canada, the continen- tal United States and Eu- rope will be ineligible to give blood for 21 days af- ter their return. Canadian Blood Services says it is im- plementing the waiting pe- riod to mitigate the risk of the Zika virus entering the Canadian blood supply. HEALTH US Z ik a ca se s pa rk s qu es ti on s about sex and mosquito germs EDHILLE—THEPHILADELPHIAINQUIRERVIAAP Actor and comedian Bill Cosby leaves a er a court appearance Wednesday in Norristown, Pa. By Maryclaire Dale and Michael R. Sisak The Associated Press NORRISTOWN, PA. A judge refused to throw out the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby on Wednesday, sweeping aside a former district attorney's claim that he granted the comedian im- munity from prosecution a decade ago. Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill issued the ruling after a hard-fought two-day hearing, saying witness credibility was a factor. He did not elabo- rate. In another setback for the defense, the judge also denied a request to disqualify newly elected District Attorney Kevin Steele from the case. Cos- by's lawyers had accused Steele of making a "polit- ical football" out of Cosby during the campaign. Cosby, 78, was arrested in December and charged with drugging and violat- ing former Temple Uni- versity athletic depart- ment employee Andrea Constand at his subur- ban Philadelphia home in 2004. The TV star could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Cosby held his head in his hands after the rul- ing, then left the court- room, using a cane to de- scend the ornate mar- ble staircase. He waved and smiled at supporters but had no comment. His lawyers put their arms on him to comfort him. The next step is a pre- liminary hearing March 8 to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put him on trial. The charges repre- sented an about-face by the district attorney's of- fice. In 2005, then-District Attorney Bruce Castor decided the case was too flawed to prosecute. But Castor's successors re- opened the investiga- tion last year after Cos- by's lurid, decade-old tes- timony from Constand's civil suit was unsealed at the request of The Associ- ated Press and after doz- ens of other women came forward with similar ac- cusations that destroyed Cosby's nice-guy image as America's Dad. Cosby's lawyers tried to get the case thrown out with help from Cas- tor, who testified at this week's hearing that he intended to forever close the door on prosecuting the comedian. He said he considered his deci- sion binding on his suc- cessors. Judge refuses to throw out Cosby sex assault case CELEBRITY TRIAL By Juan A. Lozano The Associated Press HOUSTON One of the two anti-abortion activists in- dicted last month after making undercover vid- eos about Planned Par- enthood has been offered probation to settle the charge, prosecutors an- nounced Wednesday. The possible resolution was made public follow- ing Sandra Merritt's ini- tial court appearance af- ter she turned herself in to Texas authorities and posted a $2,000 bond, which had been reduced from $10,000. The other activist, Da- vid Daleiden, was sched- uled to turn himself in Thursday. Both are charged with tamper- ing with a governmen- tal record, a felony pun- ishable by up to 20 years in prison. Daleiden also was indicted on a misde- meanor count related to purchasing human organs that carries up to a year in prison. The two activists plan to plead not guilty. Harris County prose- cutor Britni Cooper said Wednesday that Merritt has been offered pretrial diversion, which is a form of probation typically of- fered to nonviolent first- time offenders. If Merritt maintains a clean record while on probation then the charge could be dis- missed, Cooper said. UNDERCOVER VIDEOS Indicted anti-abortion activist offered probation in case Home Delivery: (530) 737-5048 Home Delivered Subscribers only! | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2016 4 B