The Zika virus that has scared Latin America for months was reported in the United States for the first time on Feb. 2, but the transmission apparently occurred via sexual contact rather than through a bite from the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Local health officials in Dallas said a patient in the area had contracted with the virus through sexual contact with someone who had traveled to Venezuela, Reuters reported. The infected individual had not traveled to the South American country.

Meanwhile, the Texas Department of State Health Services limited its assessment to saying that case details were being evaluated, but "the possibility of sexual transmission from an infected person to a non-infected person is likely in this case."

CDC confirm first U.S. case through lab tests

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meanwhile, similarly reported the case on Feb. 2, noting that it had been "confirmed through laboratory testing the first U.S. case of Zika virus infection in a non-traveler in the continental United States," according to Voice of America.

Tom Frieden, the head of the federal health agency, noted on Twitter that the case was transmitted to the infected person's sexual partner, who had not left the United States.

The virus has now been reported in more than 30 countries, and experts believe it to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect whose occurrence has skyrocketed over the last few months in areas affected by the Zika outbreak, particularly in Brazil.

'We will partner up with the U.S.,' Brazilian president says

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told lawmakers on Feb. 2 that her government would spare no expense in fighting the Aedes aegypti mosquito mosquito and would collaborate with the United States in that effort.

"My entire government is working on fighting this emergency. There will be no lack of funding and I'm certain that I will be able to count on the Congress' support," she said. "We will partner up with the U.S. government, with President Obama with whom we have spoken, to establish our capacity and improve it in order to develop as quickly as possible a vaccine for the Zika virus."

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