Thiruvananthapuram(Kerala): A day after Kerala reported its first case of Zika virus, 14 more people in the state were tested positive on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 15. Most of these infected individuals are health workers.
The virus was first detected in the blood sample of a 24-year-old pregnant woman from Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The woman exhibited symptoms of fever, headache and had red marks on her skin. As she tested positive in primary tests, her samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, reports of which confirmed that she was infected with Zika virus. Samples of 14 other individuals, too, were tested positive at this institute.
The symptoms of the Zika virus include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise and headache. The incubation period is between 3-14 days.
The Zika outbreak in Brazil in 2015 had caught attention across the world. 1600 infants born during the period of the outbreak suffered from microcephaly, a condition where the baby is born with a reduced cranium size as compared to the normal size at birth. These birth defects in newborns later affected their cognitive growth. There is an active research into developing a vaccine against the Zika virus but none have been approved as of now. The only preventive aspect of the disease is to avoid mosquito bites and ensure that vulnerable groups like pregnant women and children are protected. The disease is spread by infected Aedes species mosquitoes.
