A 24-year-old pregnant woman from Parasala in Thiruvananthapuram district was the first to test positive for Zika on July 8. Kerala Health minister Veena George later called an emergency meeting and an action plan was formulated.
- India had earlier reported a Zika outbreak in Gujarat in 2016-17.
About Zika Virus
- The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to shrunken brains in children and a rare auto-immune disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
- Although the virus is mostly spread by mosquitoes, it can also be sexually transmitted. However, few people die from Zika and only one in five develops symptoms.
- The symptoms of the disease, first identified in monkeys in Uganda in 1947 and the first human reported from Nigeria in 1954, include joint pain, fever and headache.
