Spread of Zika Virus

Spread of Zika Virus

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Disease

Context: Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have raised an alarm about the spread of the Zika virus, along with dengue and chikungunya, in several States and Union Territories where it has never been reported earlier, establishing local transmission in India

Zika virus (ZIKV)

• The Zika virus (ZIKV), a vector-borne flavivirus, is transmitted by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, mainly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus
• It is a contagious disease, infected people can transmit Zika sexually. The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) of Zika virus disease is estimated to be 3-14 days
• It was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in monkeys, Zika was detected in humans five years later.
• Sporadic cases have been reported throughout the world since the 1960s, but the first outbreak happened only in 2007 in the Island of Yap in the Pacific.
• A major outbreak in Brazil led to the revelation that Zika can be associated with microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with small and underdeveloped brains.
• In India, Zika virus was first recorded in 1952-53. The latest major outbreak was in 2018, when 80 cases were reported in Rajasthan.
• It results involve microcephaly, especially when pregnant women are infected.
• It has been reported a steep increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome — a neurological disorder that could lead to paralysis and death, according to the WHO.

The symptoms of Zika virus

• Most people infected with the virus do not develop symptoms.
• The symptoms are similar to those of flu, including fever body ache, headache etc.
• The symptoms worsen, people should seek medical advice, the occasional rash like in dengue, while some patients also have conjunctivitis.

Treatment

• Zika virus usually require rest, consumption of plenty of fluids, and common pain and fever medicines
• Zika has no treatment or vaccine.