As Zika cases rise in U.P., doctors urge travel curbs

Over 90 cases reported from State; Delhi on alert

With a rise in the number of doctors have advised that people should avoid all non-essential travel to areas reporting cases. Currently close to 90 persons, including 17 children, have tested positive for the virus from the State.

According to information released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a majority of those infected with Zika virus disease either remain asymptomatic (up to 80%) or show mild symptoms of fever, rash, conjunctivitis, body ache, joint pains. The mosquito that transmits the Zika virus, the Aedes Aegypti, also transmits the dengue virus and is widely prevalent in India.

With no vaccine or drug available to prevent or treat Zika virus disease at present, doctors have said that Zika infections should be suspected in patients reporting with acute onset of fever, maculo-papular rash, among those individuals who travelled to areas with ongoing transmission during the two weeks preceding the onset of illness. Based on the available information of previous outbreaks, severe forms of disease requiring hospitalisation are uncommon and fatalities are rare.