Zika virus has emerged as the latest health scare across the country. As per the report, recently the first positive case of Zika virus has been detected in Karnataka. After detecting the deadly virus near Bengaluru, the state health authorities are vigilantly examining all fever cases. Health authorities had sent a sample for testing Zika virus in August from Chikkaballapur that detected the presence of the virus in a mosquito. After the detection of the Zika virus, the district health authorities issued an alert across the 5-kilometer radius of the Talkaebetta area as the sample belonged to that particular area.
As per the District Health Officer, Dr. S Mahesh, nearly 100 samples were gathered from across the state. Six samples belonged from Chikkaballapur and five of them tested negative. However, one sample tested positive for the Zika virus after which health authorities issued a warning. There were around three patients who were suffering from high fever and their samples were tested in clinical analysis. Nevertheless, now these patients are doing fine. The mosquito that was found to be infected with the Zika virus was among the multiple samples gathered during the clinical analysis drive across the state. The outcomes of the analysis were released a week back.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the Zika virus is primarily spread by Aedes mosquitoes. The bite of Aedes mosquitoes is also known for spreading diseases such as Chikungunya and Dengue. The Zika virus was detected in Uganda in 1947 for the first time. At that time, the deadly virus was found in a Rhesus macaque monkey and after that, the evidence of infection and disease was found in humans in the 1950s across other African nations. As per the WHO, fever, conjunctivitis, rashes, malaise, muscle and joint aches, and headache are some common symptoms of Zika virus infection. Health experts say that the majority of Zika virus patients do not show any symptoms. Symptoms of the infection normally start appearing after 3 to 14 days of exposure and more often last for 2 to 7 days.
