Pune: Central team starts Zika virus outbreak probe

PUNE: Health officials have initiated screening and testing of transporters, traders and migrant workers coming from other states to Belsar village in the district — the site of the first Zika virus case in Maharashtra and connected to Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Harayana and Madhya Pradesh for trade in horticulture.

The Union health ministry’s three-member expert team comprising Pranil Kamble, public health specialist, Airport Health Organisation, Pune, Himmat Singh, scientist, National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), Delhi, and Shilpi Nain, professor, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi arrived in Pune on Wednesday. It has started helping the state and the district officials to identify the possible source of Zika virus infection.

“The probable source of infection could be Belsa’s transport link with other states, including Kerala where Zika outbreak has been under way from the early last month (July). But this is just a suspicion. We are working on this link to identify the probable source of infection. The Union health ministry’s team has also started helping us from Wednesday,” state surveillance officer Pradip Awate said.

A 50-year-old woman from the village tested positive for Zika-chikungunya coinfection on July 30. Dhiraj Jagatap, the deputy sarpanch of the Belsar village, said, “Traders load trucks with tomatoes, custard apple and pomegranates in and around Belsar and transport them to states like Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.” He said, “We sent of 152 blood samples of people, including those visiting the village for trade. Barring the woman, no other case of the Zika virus has been detected so far,” he said.

The NIV has detected chikungunya infection in maximum samples so far. “It is a mixed outbreak of chikungunya, dengue and Zika but with predominance of the chikungunya virus,” Awate said.