R’sthan confirms 60 positive Zika cases
JAIPUR: Five more zika virus cases were reported from Jaipur city on Sunday, taking the total count to 60, a Rajasthan health department official said.
The figures were issued after a review meeting chaired by health department additional chief secretary Veenu Gupta. Shastri Nagar area has reported the most infections, but cases have also been reported from Rajput Hostel on Station Road and from Vidyadhar Nagar area.
With the virus – transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito — spreading, Gupta said random surveys were being done in other parts of the city but no case has been detected so far. She said 45 of the 60 infected patients had fully recovered while 15 were still under observation.
Fogging and anti-larvae activities have been intensified in affected areas and extended to other parts of the city too, she added.
With the help of the district administration, Jaipur municipal corporation and the woman and child development department, the state health department has been conducting a doorto-door survey and screening patients with fever, especially pregnant women. Around 280 teams are working in affected areas.
Gupta said over 86,000 houses in Shastri Nagar area had been surveyed, two lakh water containers checked and 50,000 containers with mosquito larvae destroyed. She appealed to the people to actively participate in controlling vector-borne diseases such as zika, malaria, dengue and chikungunya and not allow mosquito-breeding in and near their houses.
But there is no need to panic as the disease is not fatal, she said. Special attention would, however, have to be given to pregnant women as there were chances of the foetus being affected by the virus in the first trimester. All women in the first trimester of pregnancy have been advised to stay away from Jaipur for a few days. A health ministry official, who was a member of the expert team tracking containment measures, said, “The average lifetime flying distance of aedes aegypti mosquitoes is 400-500 metres, so if a zero aedes zone is created using larvael control and fogging, the outbreak can be contained.”
“There is a busy bus terminus and several hotels near the hostel, which creates the risk of an infected person travelling out to create new epicentres,” he added.
The virus, which causes fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, has been reported in 86 countries, with the biggest outbreak occurring in Brazil in 2015.
It was first reported in India in Gujarat in February, 2017, when three people tested positive in Ahmedabad, which was followed by one case in Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu in July of the same year. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management.
SPECIAL ATTENTION IS BEING PAID TO PREGNANT WOMEN AS THE FOETUS MAY BE AFFECTED BY THE VIRUS IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER