LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh has so far reported 10 cases of the Zika virus with six fresh cases of the mosquito-borne virus being reported from Kanpur district.
While three of these cases are Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, the remaining seven, including six reported recently, are all civilians including a pregnant woman, who is under round-the-clock observation.
According to state government sources, a total of 645 samples have been sent to King George Medical University (KGMU) so far. 253 samples among them have been collected from people with symptoms of fever and 103 samples are of pregnant women. Out of 507 samples tested, merely 9 people have tested positive for Zika virus, while 1 patient had tested positive from the samples that were sent to NIV Pune.
Heightening preventive measures to eliminate cases of Zika virus in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government will further intensify comprehensive surveillance and implement stringent containment curbs on the breeding of mosquitoes.
“The Health Department must ensure strict surveillance to check the spread of Zika virus and should undertake frequent and extensive door-to-door sanitisation and fogging drives to stop mosquito breeding. People should be made aware of preventive measures and must be encouraged to maintain cleanliness,” instructed the Chief Minister in a high-level meeting with senior officials.
The state health department has been carrying out mass-scale sanitisation drives, state-wide surveillance, spraying of anti-larva chemicals, and fogging to curtail the spread. The health workers have been paying door-to-door visits to identify patients with viral fever, vector-borne diseases and other symptoms. Under the drive, over 39,897 households have been covered and more than 1,61,535 people have been made aware of the preventive measures to remove mosquito breeding sites.
It is noteworthy that since the confirmation of the state's first case of Zika virus on October 22, the Uttar Pradesh government is carrying out strict testing of samples at a large scale to remove the risk of any further spread at KGMU, Lucknow.
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that spreads through the bite of an infected Aedes species of mosquito named Aedes aegypti. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day, peaking during early morning and late afternoon or evening. This is the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
For the majority of people, Zika virus infection is not a serious issue. But it can be very dangerous among pregnant women. The infection can cause microcephaly (a brain disability condition) or other conditions called congenital Zika syndrome.