Zika hit India in January, Government kept silent

Almost six months after three cases of the deadly Zika virus were reported from Ahmedabad in Gujarat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has finally made the information public.

Surprisingly, the Union Health Ministry is still silent on the issue, even though it had conducted laboratory tests to confirm the virus. It has not issued an official press release or a response as of yet. All the three cases are from the Bapunagar area in Ahmedabad district, one of which includes a pregnant woman.

The WHO yesterday evening confirmed the outbreak on their website, listing the three cases and the response from the Public Health departments.

Responding to a question on the issue on March 17, Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel had said, “So far, only one case of laboratory-positive Zika virus disease has been detected in Ahmedabad, India as part of routine laboratory surveillance in January 2017." She had also said, "The required containment measures were taken up as part of the protocol and intensified detailed surveillance both in humans and mosquitoes in and around Ahmedabad and Gujarat did not show any further positive cases."

On why only one case was reported in March to the Parliament, a senior health official said, "While two cases were picked up in January for testing and the third in February, only one confirmed case had been detected while replying to the Parliament."

 WHO had declared that Zika was no longer an international public health emergency in November 2016.  Three suspected cases were picked up, and were eventually tested for Zika after they tested negative for Dengue and Chikungunya, we were not bound to make information public as emergency had been announced over. WHO later asked for a detailed report which we made available to them, that was later hosted on their website, the official said. He said there is no cause to worry as the subsequent 30,000 samples, including that of pregnant mothers, children, those with acute febrile illnesses and that of mosquitoes had turned out to be negative.

Since, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has tested 34,233 human samples and 12,647 mosquito samples for the presence of Zika virus. Among those, close to 500 mosquito samples were collected from Bapunagar area, Ahmedabad District, in Gujarat, and were found negative for Zika.

The three cases include a 64-year-old male with febrile illness, but came out negative for dengue and later confirmed positive for Zika. His sample was among the 93 samples taken between 10 and 16th February 2016, during an Acute Febrile Illness Surveillance at the B J Medical College in Ahmedabad.

One of the cases is a 34-year-old woman, who had no history of traveling in the last three months from when her sample was taken on November 9, 2016. The woman was admitted to the BJMC for her delivery and developed a low fever soon afterward. She delivered a ‘clinically’ well baby.

The most recent case from early this year came to light during another surveillance between 6 and 12 January 2017, where a 22-year-old pregnant woman in her 37th week of pregnancy has been tested positive. 

Both the pregnant cases could be dangerous as the Zika virus causes microcephaly, which is a birth defect causing an underdeveloped brain.

She said the government has taken adequate measures to prevent Zika virus disease outbreak and has been regularly reviewing the preventive measures. An action plan has been prepared to manage Zika and shared with all states while advisories have been issued to them to intensify vector control measures.

As per the WHO, in addition to National Institute of Virology, Pune, and NCDC in Delhi, 25 laboratories have been strengthened by Indian Council of Medical Research for laboratory diagnosis. In addition, 3 entomological laboratories are conducting Zika virus testing on mosquito samples.

World Health Organization had declared Zika as Public Health Emergency of International Concern in February 2016, it later said that the virus is no more an emergency of International concern but it has a threat of becoming one.