Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has rushed a multidisciplinary team to Maharashtra to monitor the Zika virus situation and support the State government in the management of Zika cases. A case of Zika has been reported in the Pune district recently.
The three-member Central team consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune; a gynaecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi; and an entomologist from National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), ICMR, New Delhi.
The team shall work closely with the State Health Department, take a stock of the situation on the ground and assess whether the Union Health Ministry’s Action Plan for Zika Management is being implemented, and recommend necessary public health interventions for the management of Zika in the state.
Maharashtra has reported its first Zika virus infection at a village in Pune on August 2. In Pune, the first case of Zika Virus has been reported from Belsar village.
Dr Pradip Awate, Maharastra’s Surveillance Officer in an interview with ANI said, the infection in the patient is mild and no other member of his family has developed any symptoms of the infection yet.
Caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day, symptoms of this disease are mild fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or a headache.