Live
- South Korea's ruling party leader cancels press conference amid calls for resignation
- AIADMK's big meet discusses 2026 polls, prospective alliances
- BJP questions Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance over Aaditya Thackeray's Savarkar-Nehru remark
- Maha Oppn to boycott customary CM tea meet, cites rising farmers' distress, atrocities against Dalits
- Mikheil Kavelashvili is new Georgian President
- He makes things look easy: Smith on 241-run partnership with Head
- Decline in TB cases & deaths in India ‘remarkable’, shows ‘political commitment’, says former WHO Director
- PKL 11: Delhi dedicates win over Haryana to ‘junior express’
- Cyclone kills 14 in French territory Mayotte
- 3rd Test: Head, Smith centuries flatten India on Day 2
Gearing up for the Zika threat
The Medical and Health Department is leaving no stone unturned to face Zika virus. The department has all the equipment to diagnose the virus. Health Desks were set up at airports and sea ports to identify the traces of virus from people coming from foreign countries where there is prevalence of virus.
Vijayawada: The Medical and Health Department is leaving no stone unturned to face Zika virus. The department has all the equipment to diagnose the virus. Health Desks were set up at airports and sea ports to identify the traces of virus from people coming from foreign countries where there is prevalence of virus.
Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus closely related to dengue virus. Zika fever symptoms are similar to other Flaviviruses such as Dengue or the Alpha virus Chikungunya, but milder in form. It is difficult to diagnose Zika virus infection based on clinical signs and symptoms alone. Zika virus can be identified by RT-PCR in acutely ill patients. The virus may cause a disease called Microcephaly, a birth defect in babies that are born to an infectant woman.
Minister for Health and Medical Education Kamineni Srinivas said that there is equipment at every district and Area Hospital to test for Zika virus. A minimum of two beds in every hospital has been asked to be set aside for treatment of patients tested positive. The virus is prevailing at a faster rate and the major airports in the State and sea ports were equipped with health desks to educate locals and test the passengers.
“We ordered the municipalities and panchayats raj departments to ensure that there is no scope for breeding of mosquitoes.
ANMs and local health officers were asked to create awareness among the people about the virus and its causes. Pregnant women, who are suffering from headaches and vomiting, are asked to undergo diagnosis for Zika virus. A set of instructions were also passed to the department to educate people on how to eradicate or prevent the virus.
Restriction of travel to countries where active transmission is going on, avoiding travelling in early pregnancy, report health authorities in cases of developing fever, mosquito free environment were a few measures that are advised. Also, the patients, who are suffering from fever after coming back from Latin American States and Spain are being observed for two weeks, closely.
