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Dr KK Aggarwal 05 October 2018
Eight people in Jaipur have tested positive for the Zika virus. Of these, three are pregnant women, reports TOI. The first case was reported in the end of September. The health department has directed compulsory tests on pregnant women with fever in the Shastri Nagar area. There are 318 would-be mothers in the locality. Over 20 samples were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, and results of the remaining samples are awaited.
Last year in May, the WHO confirmed the first three cases of laboratory-confirmed Zika virus infection in India from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The cases then detected were a 34-year-old female patient admitted to hospital with complaints of fever following delivery of a healthy baby, who had no travel history to any Zika affected country. The other two cases include a 22-year-old pregnant woman in her 37th week of pregnancy and a 64-year-old male with 8 days history of fever.
Eight people have reportedly tested positive for Zika virus. It seems that Zika is now here to stay in India.
Dengue and Chikungunya are already endemic in the country. Like Dengue and Chikungunya, Zika is a viral infection and also shares a common vector with them, the Aedes mosquitoes.
Here is an update of Zika virus disease.
These new cases tell us that all this time, the Zika virus has been circulating in the community and suggest low level transmission of Zika virus and the likelihood of more cases occurring in the near future. This should be of great concern to all, especially the public health authorities given India’s huge population, climate that is favourable to vector-borne diseases and India being a hotspot on the tourist map.
It has been suggested that the Zika virus in India “is distinct from the both African as well as pathogenic Asian strains; thus, it does not replicate profusely as the African and Asian prototype strains are known to do, and this is also the reason that there is low susceptibility in mosquitoes and they do not pick up and transmit the infection easily” (Indian J Med Res. 2017;146:572-5). But, if this Zika strain mutates to more efficiently infect mosquitoes, it could become a major public health problem in the future similar to Chikungunya virus, which re-emerged in India after decades of remaining dormant.
While enhanced surveillance, community-based including at international airports and ports, to track cases of acute febrile illness is the need of the hour, creating public awareness about the disease including preventive measures should be the focus. At the same time, the public should be assured that there is no need to panic.
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania (CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of India
Immediate Past National President IMA
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