Mahek Sharan, Institute of Applied Medicines and Research
When the whole country is fighting against the deadly Coronavirus that has led to a global lockdown, the entry of the Zika virus in Kerala has raised concerns among the people of India.
What is Zika Virus?
A virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family which has the name derived from the forests of Uganda known as Zika. The first time it was isolated was in 1947 and reported to share the same genus with viruses of Yellow fever, Dengue, and Encephalitis. In the earlier times, this virus was constrained in the narrow area from Africa to Asia but since 2007, this has spread across the oceans. This lead to Zika Virus Epidemic in 2015.
How Zika virus transmitted and what is are its symptoms?
The primary transmitter of the Zika virus is the daytime active female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also responsible for yellow fever. These mosquitoes breed in stagnant water or mainly indoor water. However, many species of Aedes and other mosquitoes like Culex perfuscus have also been reported to transmit the Zika virus. The virus is reported to be contagious through mosquitoes even a week after infection. The climate with high precipitation and temperature makes favorable conditions for Zika. The other sources of transmittance of this virus reported are through pregnancy and sexual partners. The virus could transmit from infected and symptomatic men to women as it can survive in semen from months to an entire year. The infection of a fetus with Zika by a pregnant mother leads to changes in fetal neuronal development leading to neurocognitive disorders and Guillain-Barre syndrome. The cases of transmittance of the Zika virus have also been reported in few countries from an infected donor to recipient.
Symptoms of the disease:
The Zika fever caused by the Zika virus has no or very mild symptoms that are close to the mild Dengue fever. These symptoms of the Zika virus could last from days to weeks as reported in many cases (Figure below).
The latest case of Zika virus in Kerala:
The first official case of Zika Virus was reported on 9 July (2021) in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala in a 24-year-old pregnant woman. The symptoms developed by her (fever, headache, and rashes on the body) were similar to Dengue and Chikungunya but tested negative for both. The doctors suspected the Zika virus infection and sent the samples to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
Though the condition of the patient is stable and is under treatment in KIM hospital, there were 19 other samples sent across to NIV that were under suspicion as they showed similar symptoms. Among those samples NIV reported 13 samples to be positive for Zika. Although this disease is not fatal an alert has been issued across the state by the health department. This mosquito-borne virus has no vaccine developed against it and so has to be taken care of as soon as possible.
How to get tested, treated, and prevented?
As soon as you develop these symptoms or have traveled to Zika virus-prone areas, contact your doctor or any other healthcare provider. The virus is diagnosed by the RT-PCR test that analyses and traces the genetic material of the virus in the patient’s blood or urine sample.
According to the health officials, Zika is not life-threatening and the patient needs complete rest. There are still no specific treatments available for the virus but doctors may prescribe you paracetamol to help with the symptoms. Most of the patients have been observed to be fully recovered by the disease in 5 to 7 days. The best possible way to be away from this disease is to prevent mosquito bites during the day and do not let any area become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Pregnant women living in areas prone to mosquitoes should be extra careful and prevent themselves from traveling to countries with the Zika virus reported cases.
Also read: Kerala witnessing continued rise in Covid-19 cases!
References:
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/kerala-reports-first-zika-virus–case/articleshow/84238505.cms
- Zika virus- https://www.cdc.gov/zika/about/index.html
Author Info:
Mahek Sharan is a student of the Institute of Applied Medicines and Research, pursuing MTech in Biotechnology. She aspires to become a researcher with the enthusiasm to learn and explore more in the Molecular biology domain.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahek-sharan-601474152
Some of her publications are:
- https://sciensage.info/current_issue_publish.php?p=948
- https://bioingene.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/D28MLY20R16.pdf
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ep4AfEKM3GV61fzmvRvTnlRafG3kueFL/view
- The Corrosion Prediction from the Corrosion Product Performance
- Nitrogen Resilience in Waterlogged Soybean plants
- Cell Senescence in Type II Diabetes: Therapeutic Potential
- Transgene-Free Canker-Resistant Citrus sinensis with Cas12/RNP
- AI Literacy in Early Childhood Education: Challenges and Opportunities
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