In the wake of three confirmed cases of Zika reported from Ahmedabad, the Health Department is stepping up surveillance to check its spread in Karnataka.
The Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also transmits dengue and chikungunya.
Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Shalini Rajneesh told The Hindu that Health officials had been regularly screening passengers arriving from endemic countries at airports in Bengaluru and Mangaluru. “We have also taken up surveillance at the Mangaluru and Karwar ports,” she said.
From February 6, 2016 till date as many as 2,631 passengers have been screened in Bengaluru and Mangaluru airports. Apart from the three athletes who arrived from Rio Olympics, who were suspected to be infected with Zika virus, no other case has been suspected for the virus. The samples of athletes that were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune tested negative.
Ravikumar, Regional Director, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said all passengers arriving from the endemic countries or whose journey would have originated from the endemic countries undergo a physical examination for fever, cough, headache, body ache, running nose and conjunctivitis at the airport. “Any suspected case will be sent to the State-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) for isolation and further treatment. However, no symptomatic case has been detected so far,” he said.
RGICD Director Shashidhar Buggi said the chances of Zika virus spreading in the community is high as it is caused by the bite of a common mosquito. Pointing out there was no need for people to panic, he said the disease was similar to dengue and chikungunya, and not fatal.
