Rajasthan: 500 houses to be scanned daily after Zika scare

The first ever reported case of Zika Virus in the state has made the health department to come into action. Now, 500 houses in the capital Jaipur will be screened by health department team on a daily basis. Along with this, the government has cancelled all types of holidays or leaves for all medical staff in the state till next order. 

These decisions were taken in a high-level meeting taken by health minister Kalicharan Saraf on Monday, three days after a woman from Jaipur was confirmed Zika Virus positive. Top authorities of various departments including Medical & Health, Jaipur Municipal Corporation and Animal Husbandry including specialists from SMS Medical college and its departments were present in the meeting.“Being a rainy season, it is the time most suitable for mosquito-borne diseases so health department is already conducting a survey and preventive activities across the state. Now, under the wake of recently found Zika Virus case, the focus is to intensify door to door survey,” Saraf said. 

“Instructions are given to cover 500 households daily followed by cross-checking done from competitive authorities. Officials from municipal corporation and health department are directed to conduct anti-larval activities to stop mosquito breeding,” he added. Additional chief secretary (Health) Veenu Gupta instructed all Chief Medical and Health Officers to ensure the quality of screening. She also directed additional directors to verify the screening by cross-checking.

It is worth mentioning here that the state has reported the first case of Zika Virus in the capital Jaipur as a report from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune has confirmed that one 83-year-old female, who was admitted in SMS Hospital on September 11 as she was suffering from fever since September 5 with complaints of joint pain, redness of eyes, weakness, and body ache. On suspicion, her samples were sent to NIV to test for Zika virus and the report was positive. The lady was discharged from the hospital on September 12, after she recovered.

After the information was shared by SMS Medical college, state health department conducted an intensive survey in a periphery of 3 kilometers radius from the patient’s house on Sunday. Before that, 40 houses were surveyed in the vicinity of the patient’s residence on Saturday. During the survey, 2 pregnant women and 2 female suffering from fever were found, those samples have been sent to SMS Medical College for further investigation.

The First Case

It is worth mentioning here that the state has reported the first case of Zika Virus in the capital Jaipur as a report from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune has confirmed that one 83-year-old female, who was admitted in SMS Hospital on September 11 as she was suffering from fever since September 5 with complaints of joint pain, redness of eyes.