Zika Virus

In News 

• Recently, Scientists at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, have raised an alarm about the spread of the Zika virus  across several States and Union Territories 

Zika virus (ZIKV)

• About:
  • It is  a vector-borne flavivirus and is transmitted by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, mainly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.
  • The virus was first isolated from a rhesus monkey in Uganda in the Zika forest, near the western shore of Lake Victoria, in 1947. 
  • The mosquito-borne virus spread in many African and Asian countries but caused no harm.
• Symptoms: 
  • Symptoms are generally mild and include fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache.
• Transmission: 
  • It can be transmitted from mother to foetus during pregnancy, resulting in microcephaly (smaller than normal head size) and other congenital malformations in the infant, collectively referred to as congenital Zika syndrome.
  • Iit can also be transmitted sexually. 
• Treatment: 
  • There is no treatment available for Zika virus infection or its associated diseases.

Source:TH