- NET Web Desk
On Thursday July 8, Kerala reported the first case of Zika virus – a mosquito-borne viral infection in pregnant lady.
The blood samples of 13 others suspected to be positive were collected from Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala and sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for further examination.
These samples were collected after a 24-yr-old pregnant woman from Parassala, Thiruvananthapuram complained of symptoms as – fever, headache and red marks on the skin.
Hospitalized at Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), the patient delivered on Monday June 7.
Reported to be stable now, the patient showed symptoms from Monday June 28. A week ago, her mother too had shown similar symptoms of the virus.
Currently, there are no vaccines or cure for Zika virus.
It was first detected among monkeys in Uganda in 1947. Meanwhile, in humans, the virus was identified in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
