TheGovernment Institute of Medical Sciences(GIMS) is planning to startZika virustesting at its laboratory in the next few days. The hospital management has already obtained testing kits from the Indian Council of Medical Research (Icmr) and will assess the samples of fever patients who have been found negative for dengue and chikungunya.
The Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen. Initially, only a small number of cases had been found in Africa and Asia until 2007. In the following years, due to widespread international travel, a large number of cases were reported in different countries.
According to experts, many people infected with the virus dont have symptoms or only have mild symptoms that are similar to other arbovirus infections, such as dengue, and include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache.