Hyderabad: Local transmission of Zika virus is confirmed as the virus is spreading to more parts of the country including Telangana, according to the researchers at the Indian Institute of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune,

The study about the spread of Zika virus, published in Frontiers of Microbiology, states that “Our study indicates the spread of the Zika virus to several states of India and an urgent need to strengthen its surveillance.”

As part of this study, researchers collected 1,485 samples from 13 states, 64, which included a sample from Osmania Medical College, tested positive for Zika virus. The samples were collected from private and government hospitals between May to October 2021.

“The retrospective surveillance for ZIKV (Zika virus) undertaken by us demonstrates the silent spread of this virus to almost all parts of India,” study observes.

The study states the virus is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes and there would be an increase in Zika cases during monsoon season.

The vector-borne virus has been found in Delhi, Amritsar (Punjab), Aligarh and Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Jaipur and Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Pune (Maharashtra), Ranchi (Jharkhand) Hyderabad (Telangana) and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and places which have a high population density.

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It may be recalled here that Kerala reported the outbreak of Zika virus last year and 66 cases of vector-borne disease were treated at the state hospitals. The symptoms in a Zika patient include fever, headache, rashes and joint and muscle pain. The symptoms may not be severe but it will be similar to a very mild form of dengue fever.