India 2nd-most susceptible to Zika, says study

MUMBAI: India, with 1.2 billion residents in a potential Zika virus transmission area, and a large number of travellers from countries affected by the disease, i

MUMBAI: India, with 1.2 billion residents in a potential Zika virus transmission area, and a large number of travellers from countries affected by the disease, i s among the countries most susceptible to the virus, revealed a study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal.

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According to researchers, with 67,422 travellers arriving in India annually, the country is the second-most vulnerable to the disease after China, which welcomes 2,38,415 travellers a year. August is the time of peak exposure to the virus. The study — set to attract the attention of policy makers — focused on countries with large volumes of travellers arriving from Zika-affected areas of the Americas.

The study — supported in part by the Canadian Institute of Health Research and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (BioMosiac program) — investigated the risks of the introduction of Zika virus by travellers from endemic areas.

The authors suggested that resource-limited countries that have minimal travel restrictions need to use health and human resources strategically to prevent the spread of the virus.

As of June 27, 40 countries and territories in America have confirmed the transmission of Zika Virus, causing the World Health Organisation to declare it a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’. “An estimated 2.6billion people live in areas that have competent mosquito vectors and suitable climate conditions for the introduction and transmission of the virus,” said the authors.

The researchers plotted a 50km buffer zone around infected areas in America to accommodate the potential movement of travellers from these areas to nearest airports. Then the researchers mapped the monthly final destinations of the travellers departing from airports within these buffered zones for airports to Africa an Asia pacific region. They pointed out that the risk of virus management is greater in India, which merely spends 75$ (about Rs5,000) on per capita health expenditure and ranks 71st in list of 104 countries according to health expenditure index.