First Zika virus case has been confirmed in India, says WHO

For the hundreds of thousands of Indians living in Qatar, there may be some cause for concern as three cases of the lethal Zika virus has been reported in the country.

The virus, which can cause babies to be born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, has affected dozens of countries around the world since it was first detected in 2015.

The Indian health ministry confirmed its first case of the Zika virus, according to information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), making it the latest nation to be affected by the mosquito-borne virus, reported Gulf Times.

The WHO statement said that on May 15, India’s health ministry reported three confirmed cases from the western state of Gujarat. The cases were detected during testing in February and November last year, while one was detected in January this year, reported The Peninsula.

Indian health authorities chose to play down its importance, saying there was ‘no cause for worry.’

The ministry said it was closely monitoring the individual cases, which includes a pregnant woman, reported in Gujarat's Ahmedabad and that the situation was under control.

“Only three Zika virus cases have been detected in around 50,000 tested and no mosquitoes are positive. Both pregnant ladies and children are safe. We’re keeping a close watch on everything, nothing to worry about,” the Times of India quoted the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as saying.

The health ministry assured the outbreak had been contained and all due follow-up measures were being taken.

“India has strengthened its surveillance system in past few years, so we are able to detect and contain new infections. State health departments are all following standard protocols,” the ministry said.

According to Times of India, the first reported case was that of a 64-year-old male between February 10 and 16 last year. The second case was a 34-year-old woman, who delivered a baby in Ahmedabad on November 9 last year.

The third case was detected when a 22-year-old pregnant woman, who was in her 37th week of pregnancy, also tested positive for Zika virus.

Since Zika erupted on a large scale in mid-2015, more than 1.5m people have been infected, mostly in Brazil and other countries in South America. Some 70 countries have been impacted. Zika may lead to an itchy rash but often causes no symptoms, making it hard to track.

In rare cases the virus can cause brain defects such as microcephaly, an irreversible condition in which the child's brain and skull are unusually small and misshapen.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries Zika and the dengue and chikungunya viruses, is widely prevalent in India.