• In the backdrop of Zika virus being detected in a mosquito pool collected from the Talakayalabetta village in Chikkaballapura district, the Karnataka Health Department directed the district authorities to step up surveillance measures.

About Zika Virus

In Guillain-Barré syndrome, a patient starts with weakness and tingling in the feet and legs that spread to the upper body which can also lead to paralysis.

• Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in Rhesus macaque monkeys.
• The virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes, the same vector of Dengue and Chikungunya.
  • It usually bites during the day.
• Symptoms include rashes, fever, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise and headache.
• Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly (smaller than normal head size) and other congenital malformations, known as congenital Zika syndrome.
• Zika virus infection can also cause neuropathy and myelitis, particularly in adults and older children.
• In outbreaks over the last decade, Zika virus infection was found to be associated with increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
• Currently, there is no vaccine or specific treatment available for this infection.
  • Therefore, treatment is symptomatic and suspected / confirmed cases should remain isolated and take sufficient rest, consume a lot of liquids and sleep under the mosquito nets.