New Delhi : The Union health ministry on Friday constituted a technical committee to formulate travel guidelines for those coming to or from Zika virus-affected countries with the World Health Organisation (WHO) raising fears about its “explosive” spread.
The virus has resurfaced largely in Central and South America and the Caribbean as a deadlier strain affecting fetuses, posing a greater risk to pregnant women.
However, one of India’s main concerns is the carrier for Zika virus – the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The insect is also a carrier for dengue virus that claims hundreds of lives and infects thousands across the country every year. The symptoms of Zika are also the same as for dengue infection – fever, head and body ache, nausea and so on.
Zika virus was first detected in 1947, and for decades caused mild infections only. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, the Zika virus is now prevalent in more than 20 countries, mostly Central and South America, and babies born to infected mothers have microcephaly, wherein the size of the head is abnormally small causing developmental issues in children.
@Agency report.
