What Is Zika Virus? Symptoms And Prevention Of Mosquito-borne Disease

What Is Zika Virus?: For the first time, cases of mosquito-borne Zika virus were reported on Thursday in Kerala.

A 24-year-old pregnant woman, the first patient, was admitted on June 28 to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. All the cases for the Zika virus were collected from the same district and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

According to reports, the virus can cause neurological disorders in newborns if it affects pregnant women. Although no confirmation from NIV has been out for test results, 13 out of the 19 samples are suspected to be positive.

What is Zika virus?

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is primarily spread by the bite of an infected Aedes species, which bites during the day. Aedes mosquitoes are the same that transmit dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. During pregnancy, the virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to the fetus and can cause infants to be born with congenital Zika syndrome. The Zika virus is also associated with other complications of pregnancy including preterm birth and miscarriage.

As per WHO, the infection can act as a trigger of Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis, particularly in adults and older children. An infected individual can also transmit the disease to their sex partners, as per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Symptoms of Zika Virus

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most people infected with the virus do not develop symptoms. Generally, the symptoms of the mosquito-borne disease include fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache, which typically lasts for 2–7 days. The incubation period of Zika virus disease is estimated to be 3–14 days.

Prevention and treatment of the disease

There is no treatment available for Zika virus infection, however, people with symptoms should get plenty of rest, drink fluids, and treat pain and fever with common medicines. Vital prevention for the disease is to protect ourselves against mosquito bites during the day and early evening. Also, pregnant women, women of reproductive age, and young children should be actively prevented from mosquitoes. Currently, no vaccine is available for the prevention or treatment of the virus infection and it remains an active area of research.