Central team likely to visit Pune district which reported Zika virus case: officials

The patient has recovered completely, it said.We have received intimation that a multi-disciplinary team from Delhi will visit Maharashtra to assess the situation following the Zika virus case being reported from Pune districts Purandar tehsil, said Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillance officer.He said the team may visit the area where the case was reported and review measures being taken by the state government.

A team of experts from Delhi is expected to visit Pune district which recently reported the first case of Zika virus infection in Maharashtra, officials said on Monday. A 50-year-old woman from Belsar village in Purandar tehsil was diagnosed with the Zika virus infection last Friday, the state health department had said. The patient has recovered completely, it said.

''We have received intimation that a multi-disciplinary team from Delhi will visit Maharashtra to assess the situation following the Zika virus case being reported from Pune district's Purandar tehsil,'' said Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillance officer.

He said the team may visit the area where the case was reported and review measures being taken by the state government. ''The team can give its suggestions,'' he added. Pune district health officer Dr Bhagwan Pawar said that surveillance has been increased in four to five villages within the radius of the Belsar village. ''Samples of suspected patients are being collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The breeding spots of mosquitoes are being destroyed in villages,'' he said.

Zika virus spreads through the bite of the aedes aegypti mosquito and most patients do not have symptoms.

Meanwhile, Pune Zilla Parishad CEO Ayush Prasad said the district administration will work with the Central team to ensure that the Zika virus infection is contained.

The three-member Central team consists of a public health expert from the office of Regional Director, Pune, a gynaecologist from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, and an entomologist from National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), ICMR, an official said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)