Pune-based NIV succeeds in isolating zika virus, says ICMR director

Confirmatory tests for Zika virus are being done in Pune where samples are being sent from across the country.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director, Dr Balram Bhargava said on Friday that the Pune-based National Institute of Virology has successfully isolated the Zika virus for the very first time.

A file photo, an Aedes aegypti mosquito known to carry the Zika virus, is photographed through a microscope. Transmitted through the aedes aegypti mosquito, zika virus causes fever, skin rashes, muscle and joint pain. In pregnant women, it can lead to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than expected, in newborn children. (AP/HT)

“For the very first time in the country, we were able to isolate the virus which has been done by National institute of Virology (NIV). Also, we have done the full genome sequence and have found out that mutations associated with microcephaly (abnormal smallness of head) in babies born from zika-infected mothers in Brazil is not responsible for the same condition here,” Dr Bhargava said over the telephone from Delhi.

ICMR’s national director (epidemiology) and head of all 13 institutes, including NIV, Dr RR Gangakhedkar said, two confirmed Zika cases have been identified in Bhopal. He said even if Zika comes to Maharashtra, there is no need to fear as the threat of microcephaly has been ruled out.

Dr Bhargava said while research was continuing on this strain, it was not as threatening as the Brazilian Zika virus. “As of now we are still studying but yes we can say it is less threatening,” he said.

Both, Dr Bhargava and Dr Gangahedkar said that Zika’s association with microcephaly in India has been ruled out which makes it less threatening.

Confirmatory tests for Zika virus are being done in Pune where samples are being sent from across the country. Under directions from ICMR, NIV had also organised training for all 20 labs across the country to equip them to test for the virus.

The Zika infection has affected more than 160 cases in Rajasthan of which around 50 are pregnant women. Transmitted through the aedes aegypti mosquito, this virus causes fever, skin rashes, muscle and joint pain. In pregnant women, it can lead to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than expected, in newborn children.

In India, the first case this year was reported on September 22, when an 85-year-old woman tested positive for the virus in Jaipur. The first local outbreak of Zika virus in the country was reported in Ahmedabad in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district in July last year.