Last Monday, the health department issued an advisory for hospitals in Lucknow for the screening, treatment and prevention of Zika Virus cases. The directions given require the hospitals to scan all patients who have returned from a country where Zika Virus cases are being reported and are showing symptoms like fever, rashes on the skin, pain in muscles or joints, red eyes or a headache. This has been done because of the rising number of cases in Uttar Pradesh.
Kanpur witnesses steep rise
On Monday, Kanpur reported 10 more cases of the Zika Virus, taking the total tally to 89. Previously, 13 cases had been reported on Saturday. The new cases have been reported in areas that are beyond the three-kilometre radius that had been marked as an area of interest by the Health Department.
Case found in 2nd UP district
On Saturday, a confirmed case of the virus was found in Kannauj. This is the first case in the state to have been reported outside Kanpur. According to officials, the patient, a 45-year-old man, may have contracted the virus from the Kasamau Village in the Shivrajpur area of Kanpur on a recent visit.
What is Zika Virus?
First identified in humans in Uganda and Tanzania in 1952, Zika is a flavivirus that is primarily transmitted by female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that bite during the day. However, it can also be spread through sexual intercourse. Symptoms of the disease may vary from mild fever, muscle and joint pain, conjunctivitis, malaise, rash to a headache and usually last for two-seven days. It can also cause birth defects in newborns if a pregnant woman is infected.
