Zika in Uttar Pradesh: 3 new cases recorded, tally reaches 4 in Kanpur
Despite the 22 contacts of the first case testing negative, three new cases were reported on Saturday.
Kanpur’s Zika tally rose to four after three more people were infected with the virus on Saturday. Uttar Pradesh recorded its first case of Zika virus on October 24 after an Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel tested positive for the viral disease in Kanpur.
The state health authorities last week sent 22 samples of people who were in close contact with the infected for testing. Those 22 samples tested negative for Zika.
The IAF personnel was admitted to the Air Force Hospital in the district and was suffering from fever for a few days before his admission. The Centre sent a team on Monday to assess the situation and it consisted of an entomologist, public health specialists and gynaecologist drawn from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, National Centre for Disease Control and RML Hospital, New Delhi.
Officials at Pokharpur and Pardevanpurwa localities of Kanpur’s Chakeri area undertook sanitisation programmes including anti-larvae spraying, identification of fever patients, screening of seriously ill people and pregnant women in a bid to curb the further spread. The team also collected samples of a few people suffering from fever.
Earlier this year, Kerala was the first state to have reported Zika.
Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, the same species responsible for spreading diseases like dengue and chikungunya.
Mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or a headache and usually last for 2-7 days are the most common symptoms of Zika virus infection. Zika infection in pregnant women can cause a birth defect in their children called microcephaly that is a sign of incomplete brain development. The Zika virus can also act as a trigger of Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis in adults and older children.