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  India   High-level meet on Zika today

High-level meet on Zika today

Published : Feb 8, 2016, 12:17 am IST
Updated : Feb 8, 2016, 12:17 am IST

To counter the possible outbreak of Zika virus in the country and specifically in the states that provide ideal conditions for proliferation of mosquitoes during this time of the year, the Union healt

To counter the possible outbreak of Zika virus in the country and specifically in the states that provide ideal conditions for proliferation of mosquitoes during this time of the year, the Union health secretary will review vector control measures on Monday at a high-level meeting.

Resident commissioners of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will attend the meeting, with health secretary B.P. Sharma stating the intensified vector control measures that have been initiated to control the aedes aegypti mosquito, responsible for the spread of dengue and now Zika.

“Dengue activity in these states is more at this time of the year. Therefore, they have been told to intensify vector control measures,” a senior ministry official said.

This will be the fourth such high-level meeting ever since Zika started spreading its wings. In the earlier meeting, Union health minister J.P. Nadda assessed preparedness with experts and directed the laboratories to brace up for testing. Around 10 laboratories will be equipped to do the testing, including NIV Pune and NCDC Delhi. Significantly, it was also decided that Asha workers should be sensitised and asked to report any case at the existing “mother and child tracking system.”

India has already decided that all its international airports will have signages asking passengers coming from affected countries to report “fever-like” symptoms at the airport.

The Union health ministry has also issued detailed guidelines to deal with the virus and issued a “travel advisory,” advising travellers (both women and men) to consider postponing travel to affected countries.

For pregnant women, however, it has been advised that no matter in which trimester they are, they should talk to their doctors if they must travel to countries where Zika infections have been found, and if the trip is not essential, they should consider postponing it.

The WHO has already declared Zika outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.

On May 2015, Brazil reported its first case of Zika virus disease. Since then, the disease has spread within Brazil and to 22 other countries and territories in the region.

Arrival of the virus in some countries of the Americas, notably Brazil, has been associated with a steep increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads and in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi