Call for vigilance on Zika virus

The Zika virus poses a very real risk for the Indian population. Its presence has been confirmed by five zika virus strains which have been isolated from patients in Jaipur.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) states that the virus in India lacks a particular gene linked to foetal microcephaly (babies born with abnormally small heads), and so at present this not a risk.

But epidemiologists state that earlier vectorvirus relationship studies with chikungunya and dengue, caused by the same type of mosquito, have suggested that in due course of time it will spread and become a major public health concern.

A senior doctor in the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme explained, “There are 159 positive cases of zika virus in Rajasthan. The numbers may be small for a large country like India, but it has confirmed that the virus is present in the air as was suspected earlier. This is India’s third outbreak of zika in the past two years which means that we need to be alert and there must be better diagnosis.”

The virus breeds in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and the environment in India is conducive to its spread as water here is stored, there are high levels of humidity and optimal temperature to support the survival of mosquito eggs for three to four days at a stretch.