Centre’s team to visit Jaipur today to review Zika case

JAIPUR: Following the report of Zika virus case in Jaipur and first in Rajasthan, the Union ministry of health and family welfare swings into action.
A team of experts, comprising officials from different government agencies such as National Centre for Disease Control and scientists, will reach Jaipur on Tuesday for investigating into Zika virus case and to suggest how to prevent its spread.
Showing urgency to deal with emerging Zika threat, health department cancelled leaves of staff. At a time when the state is facing a major challenge to contain transmission of Zika virus to healthy persons, intensive measures are being taken from screening of fever patients, testing for Zika virus infection and also for conducting anti-larvae activities. As Zika is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also responsible for transmitting diseases such as dengue and chikungunya, teams of entomologists and epidemiologists are already camping in the affected area to keep mosquitoes at bay.
Moreover, the health department held a high-level meeting in the state on seasonal diseases on Tuesday. In the meeting, health minister Kalicharan Saraf issued strict directions. “All leaves of healthcare staff in the state have been cancelled. If anyone needs leave, he has to give reason for unavoidable leave and take permission from chief medical health officer of respective district,” said Saraf.
Saraf has directed officials to conduct door-to-door survey in the city. “Since Jaipur is the place which has reported highest number of cases of seasonal diseases including swine flu, scrub typhus, dengue and malaria, directions have been issued to conduct door-to-door survey of the city,” said Saraf.
However, Zika is new to health department officials in the state. It has started using guidelines issued by the Centre for preventing its transmission. Moreover, the health department will also take help to know more about its prevention.
A health department official said the Centre’s team visiting Jaipur will be helpful in giving suggestions on how to prevent spread of Zika and other seasonal diseases.
Moreover, the health department has started making use of Centre’s guidelines on Zika virus for conducting survey of the area.
“We have marked three kilometre radius from the house of the infected person’s house. We will conduct intensive survey of the area to find out if any other person is infected with the disease,” said a senior health department official.
Besides, the health department is taking samples of cases who are found to be suffering from fever in Shastri Nagar area, where first case of Zika of the state was detected.