Dr Dhariwal writes:

“Reference news item in todays medical voice titled "Govt. asks CDC to "withdraw or modify" its Zika alert: Can we afford to do the same?"

As former Directors, NVBDCP and NCDC and part of the teams that investigated Zika virus disease (ZVD) in Gujarat and Rajasthan, let me re-enforce the confidence among health and medical professionals that India has an ongoing continuous surveillance and rapid response system under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) being coordinated by National CDC. Samples tested negative for dengue and chikungunya are subjected for ZVD test at sentinel sites in selected medical colleges, ICMR labs etc. This is how, we picked up ZV infection in Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Local focal disease outbreaks could happen anywhere even in high income countries. Openness in our system is appreciated globally and should not be allowed to put our country in disadvantage situation like is the case of Zika alert in India by CDC.

We, medical professionals should support the notification and appropriate containment measures on such occurrences to State and District IDSP units. Information is available on https://idsp.nic.in/showfile.php?lid=3923 for the same.

Dr AC Dhariwal, MD, MSc(CHDC), CHS)Advisor, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP)