New Delhi: The death of a 74-year-old man in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district, suspected to have been caused by the Zika virus, and several samples testing positive for the pathogen over the last few days at the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Pune, has set off alarm bells. During the ongoing outbreak of Zika virus — a pathogen whose vector is the Aedes mosquito (also the vector for chikungunya and dengue) — cases have been reported from at least three districts in Maharashtra: Pune, Kolhapur and Ahmednagar. Other states from which cases have been reported are Karnataka and Kerala.
According to a report by the Times of India (TOI) , the situation is grim in Pune, where ICMR-NIV is overwhelmed with the number of samples. Till the morning of 8 July, the number of confirmed cases was nine, which included three pregnant women. Also read : Most packaged food brands depend on ‘deceptive’ ads that hide crucial nutrient info — Delhi think tank The ongoing outbreak of the virus, first reported in India in Gujarat in 2016, prompted the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to issue an advisory to states, asking them to alert clinicians for close monitoring of the cases.
The Centre also urged states to instruct health facilities in the affected areas and healthcare workers looking after cases in affected areas to screen pregnant women for Zika virus infection, and monitor the growth of the foetus in expecting mothers who have test.