Zika reaches India, 3 cases in Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Zika virus disease has reached India, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirming first three cases in Gujarat's Ahmedabad.
The WHO endorsed the findings of laboratory tests conducted in the country, saying all three cases, including that of a pregnanat woman, were reported from Bapunagar area of the city.
The disease is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes and an infection during pregnancy can cause birth defects in newborns known as microcephaly--a condition in which babies' head is abnormally small. It is characterised by brain damage and may cause other defects like blindness, deafness, and even seizures.
"The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare - Government of India (MoHFW) reported three laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika virus disease in Bapunagar area, Ahmedabad District, Gujarat State, India," the global health body said in a statement.
India has strengthened its surveillance system in the past few years to detect and contain new infections. Only three Zika cases have been detected in around 50,000 tested so far, a senior Health Ministry official said.
According to the WHO statement, routine surveillance detected a laboratory-confirmed case of Zika virus disease through RT-PCR test at B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad.
This was further confirmed at the national reference laboratory at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune on January 4 this year.