A zika epidemic spreads to Gujarat and a positive test woman in Ahmedabad

New Delhi:

The Zika epidemic is spreading in the country. Officials said Sunday that the mosquito-borne virus had been detected in Gujarat after nearly 150 cases were reported in neighboring Rajasthan this year.

Health officials in Gujarat reported that a woman had obtained a positive Zika test result and that she had been treated at a public hospital in Ahmedabad, the first confirmed case this year outside of Rajasthan .

"Only one case has been discovered so far.We take every precaution," said Sunday at AFP Jayanti Ravi, health commissioner of Gujarat,

The Ministry of Health Health has mobilized hundreds of doctors and medical staff for emergency screening for Zika, including more than 250 pregnant women with fever.

Gujarat, which borders Rajasthan to the south, has fumigated public areas to kill mosquitoes carrying the disease.

Rajasthan health authorities have detected 147 cases of zika since September, officials said. Nearly 440,000 people were under surveillance in Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan, last month.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti, carrying the Zika virus and other viruses such as dengue, is widespread in the country.

The first cases of Zika in India have been reported in India. January 2017 in Gujarat, but the latest case is the first in the state this year.

Since Zika broke out on a large scale in 2015, more than 1.5 million people in more than 70 countries have been infected, most of them in South America.

In rare cases, if a pregnant woman contracts the virus, her baby may develop brain abnormalities.

Zika was also detected in Tamil Nadu in July 2017. The World Health Organization stated that no vaccine would probably be available until 2020.