NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry on Monday dispatched a multi-disciplinary team to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh where a case of Zika virus has been detected in a 57-year-old male. The state is third, after Kerala and Maharashtra, to report Zika virus cases in India this year.
The central team of an entomologist, public health specialists and gynaecologist drawn from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, National Center for Disease Control and Dr. RML Hospital, New Delhi has been deployed to assist the state health authorities.
The government said that the team will work closely with the state, take stock of the situation on the ground and assess whether the centre’s action plan for Zika management is being implemented.
The team has also been asked to recommend necessary public health interventions for the management of Zika. In August this year, soon after tens of Zika cases were recorded in Kerala, Maharashtra too had reported a few cases of the disease.
The Zika virus, transmitted through the aedes aegypti mosquito is characterised by fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and its initial symptoms may be similar to Covid.
Though largely not very serious, it is mainly harmful to pregnant women, as the mother can pass the infection to her foetus during pregnancy or around the time of birth leading to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby's head is significantly smaller than normal.
In the country, the first outbreak of the Zika virus was reported in Gujarat in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district in July that year. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management.
Later, a large outbreak of the disease was reported in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh the next year and pregnant women were strongly advised against visiting the affected areas.