Kerala has issued a high alert after the detection of 14 cases of Zika virus. The state, known as God’s Own Country, reported its first case of the mosquito-borne disease on Thursday when a 24-year-old pregnant woman was diagnosed with it. However, the government was waiting for confirmation from the National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune. Of the 19 samples sent from Thiruvananthapuram to NIV, 13 health workers are suspected to be positive for Zika.
Kerala’s health secretary Dr Rajan Khobragade told the BBC that the government had sent teams for “strong surveillance in outbreak areas,” making people aware of the disease.
A brief history of Zika
The first case of Zika was identified in Uganda in 1947 in monkeys. Scientists conducting routine surveillance for yellow fever, in the Zika forest of Uganda, found the virus from the samples taken from a captive rhesus monkey. It was later identified in Humans in 1952 in the United Republic of Tanzania.
From the 1960s to 1980s, rare sporadic cases of human infections were found across Africa and Asia, typically accompanied by mild illness.
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