Zika Virus: Central team sent to Jaipur after 8 more people test positive

To review the situation and to formulate a strategy to prevent the outbreak of Zika virus, a five-member central team has been sent to Jaipur.

In Jaipur, eight-person has tested positive with Zika in the state, including the three pregnant women. Thus, to review the situation and to formulate a strategy to prevent the outbreak a five-member central team has been sent to Jaipur. The first case reported was reported in the last week of September, an elderly woman was diagnosed with Zika infection.

According to the Medical Dialogues report, the officials reportedly said that it will be very difficult to identify the source of infection as the majority of those infected with Zika virus disease remain asymptomatic. In all probability, whoever brought the infection remain asymptomatic and transferred the virus to someone else.

However, the central team includes P Ravindran, director, Emergency Medical Responder at the health ministry, Sujeet Kumar Singh, Director of National Centre of Disease Control and Ashutosh Biswas from All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Delhi.

Moreover, 90 other pregnant women from Shastri Nagar are under the watchful eyes of the health department other than the three women. The officials reportedly said that they would recommend the termination of pregnancy if a woman is infected with Zika virus during the first trimester. They have not suggested abortion for these three women as they have crossed the first trimester.

The health department is also collecting details of the duration of pregnancy while collecting the sample of pregnant women for testing. During the first trimester, the spine and the brain of foetus develops. But there is a high risk of the virus causing microcephaly, the condition in which the brain doesn t develop properly when Zika infects a pregnant woman.

The health department has sent urine and serum samples of 90 pregnant women to Sawai Man Singh Medical College for testing. Officials claimed that it would be better to opt for MTP rather than giving birth to a baby with defective brain development and other abnormalities.