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NEW DELHI (CNN) – India has recorded its largest outbreak of Zika virus so far, with 32 confirmed cases in Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan, in the western part of the country.
The first case was confirmed on September 23 in the Shastri Nagar neighborhood of the city, located near some of the city's main tourist attractions.
The country's Minister of Health, JP Nadda, has deployed a seven-member team to Jaipur to continuously monitor the situation and contribute to control and containment operations.
The number of suspected cases can not be estimated, said Veenu Gupta, deputy secretary general of the state's Department of Health and Family Health and Welfare, adding that samples are collected daily from all residents within a radius of three kilometers. "People who test positive are flagged."
People suspected of having contracted the virus are currently being tested. Mosquito samples from the area will also be examined.
"We need to conduct a very intensive investigation within a radius of 3 km around which the first case was recorded," Gupta said, adding that there were 58,000 households in the affected area and that 100 to 150 teams are deployed daily to identify fever cases, pregnant women and mosquito breeding sites.
The teams have so far investigated 43,000 homes and the state government is also stepping up its efforts to raise public awareness of the virus and how to prevent it.
This is the third epidemic in India since 2017.
The first was reported in Ahmedabad, in western Gujarat, around January 2017, with three confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization.
A few months later, in July, a second outbreak was reported in the state of Tamil Nadu, in the south of the country. According to local media, a man was infected with the virus. Both epidemics were contained.
Risk for future mothers
The Zika virus was first identified 70 years ago in the Zika Forest in Uganda. Isolated and small-scale epidemics have occurred in various parts of the world, including Africa, South-East Asia and the Pacific Islands, but no major complications have been associated with the virus until the end of the year. when he arrived in Brazil, which reported an extended epidemic in Brazil. World Health Organization since March 2015 and soon in Central and South America.
In March 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that there were at least 90 countries and territories where the Zika virus was being transmitted.
The virus is mainly transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito Aedes aegypti. Most people infected with Zika virus will not have any symptoms. If there are symptoms, they usually appear a few days to a week after exposure, although the precise incubation period is not known, according to US Centers for Disease Control. There is no vaccine to prevent Zika.
Fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (pink eye) are the most common symptoms of the virus. Some patients may also experience muscle pain or headaches.
The virus can be transmitted by sexual contact, by blood transfusion, by needle or by a pregnant woman to her fetus.
The real concern is with pregnant women, because the virus can cause microcephaly, a neurological disorder that causes babies to be born with an abnormally small head, which can lead to serious developmental problems and sometimes death. Zika infection can cause other birth defects, including eye problems, hearing loss, and slow growth. A miscarriage can also occur.
All pregnant women in the area will also be monitored, according to a statement issued by the Indian Ministry of Health. The World Health Organization announced in November 2016 that the Zika virus was no longer a public health emergency of international concern, but the Indian Ministry of Health continues to monitor it.
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