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Three more Zika virus cases in Kanpur, two of them IAF personnel
The development comes a week after the first case of Zika virus in Uttar Pradesh was reported in Kanpur on October 23 when an IAF warrant officer’s sample tested positive
Three more cases of Zika virus were reported in Kanpur on Saturday, taking the tally in the district to four, the highest anywhere after Kerala where 90 cases have been recorded, said health officials.
Kanpur district magistrate Vishakh G Iyer confirmed the new cases.
The development comes a week after the first case of Zika virus in Uttar Pradesh was reported in Kanpur on October 23 when an IAF warrant officer’s sample tested positive.
Among the three new patients, two are Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel and one is a civilian (a family member of one of the infected personnel). Their reports came in on Saturday evening from King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow.
“The health department had sent 500 samples of IAF personnel, their family members and people living in a radius of two km of IAF station to KGMU. Three of these samples tested positive,” the district magistrate said.
Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day. Symptoms are generally mild and include fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache.
While the source of the infection in Kanpur hasn’t been traced, the storage facility between hangars seven and eight at the IAF station has emerged as an area of interest. Specialists from the Centre and the state are camping in the city for about a week. The health authorities believe this storage facility could be the possible breeding ground at IAF station.
“Three of the infected IAF personnel were working in hangars seven and eight and may have contracted the infection,” said a senior health official, adding the focus was on this facility and necessary steps were being taken.
In the first case, the IAF warrant officer was afflicted with fever and admitted in 7 Air Force Hospital.
When there was no improvement in his condition, the doctors sent his samples for tests to the National Institute of Virology on October 20, on suspicion that he had contracted a vector-borne disease.
Twenty-two contacts of the IAF warrant officer had tested negative. The reports of subsequent samples, around 250, had been negative too.
But the fresh cases have put the health department back on its toes and the area of screening has been increased. The sampling would be done as far as Adarsh Nagar and Shyam Nagar localities where three infected people lived. The focus was earlier on Pardevanpurwa, the IAF station and localities within a one km radius.
Iyer said the priority was pregnant women at the IAF station and other localities.
“We have asked the IAF to share the details of such women, their samples will be taken and tested in Lucknow,” he said.
The Zika virus is known to affect the baby’s head in the womb, said the health experts.
Kanpur’s chief medical officer Dr Nepal Singh said the health department has formed containment clusters—each consisting of 400 houses.
The teams were doing rigorous screening, source reduction, anti-larva spray and identification of people who are sick.
