Zika virus disease

Why in news?

• The Union Health Ministry has sent a high-level multidisciplinary team to Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh where a case of Zika virus disease has been reported.

About Zika virus disease:

• Zika virus disease is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes, such as A. aegypti and A. albopictus.
• Its name comes from the Zika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947.
• Zika virus shares a genus with the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses.
• Since the 1950s, it has been known to occur within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia and from 2007 to 2016, the virus spread eastward, across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas.
• The infection often causes no or only mild symptoms, similar to a very mild form of dengue fever.
• While there is no specific treatment, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and rest may help with the symptoms.

Complications of Zika virus disease          

• Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of microcephaly and other congenital abnormalities in the developing fetus and newborn.
• Zika infection in pregnancy also results in pregnancy complications such as fetal loss, stillbirth, and preterm birth. 
• Zika infections in adults may result rarely in Guillain–Barré syndrome, a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system.

Transmission

• Zika virus is primarily transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti, in tropical and subtropical regions.
• This is the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
• Zika virus is also transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy, through sexual contact, transfusion of blood and blood products, and organ transplantation.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding Zika Virus disease:   

1.It is spread by anopheles mosquitos.

2.It is endemic to Asia and Africa.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer