IEDCR says no Zika virus barring in one case has been found in Bangladesh

Bangladesh government’s disease control arm has confirmed that no Zika Virus has been found in 159 blood samples tested in Chittagong.

The samples had been collected from relatives and neighbours of an unnamed person found 'Zika-positive' earlier.

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Chief Mahmudur Rahman said there was no cause for worry.

Rahman told bdnews24.com, "No trace of Zika virus has been found in them, though 10 people are suffering from ordinary fever."

The government had announced the detection of the Zika virus in Bangladesh in a press conference earlier on Tuesday.

State Minister for Health Zahid Maleque confirmed the news to journalists.

On Mar 15, bdnews24.com had reported, citing a government source, the existence of the Zika virus in Bangladesh.

The mosquito-borne virus has caused global concern for its link with microcephaly in which a baby is born with a small head and underdeveloped brain.

The government in February, after WHO’s emergency call on Zika virus, decided to retest old blood samples stored at the IEDCR for any trace of the virus.

Those samples had earlier tested negative for dengue and chikungunya, the two prevalent diseases in Bangladesh, spread by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito.
 
But since the same mosquito was behind the Zika virus infection and WHO had declared an international public health emergency, the government decided to test all the negative samples yet again for Zika virus.
 
According to Prof Mahmudur Rahman, “We did not find any other case, we even did not find any unusual birth.”
 
He stressed mosquito control as the only effective means of combating Zika.
 
The Zika virus first surfaced in Uganda in 1947. The most common symptoms of the infection caused by it are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis.
 
The illness is usually mild, with the symptoms lasting for about a week. In 80 percent of the cases, symptoms do not show up. There is no vaccine for the disease.
 
The disease also does not spread through respiratory droplets.
 
After the state minister's announcement, Chittagong Civil Surgeon Dr Azizur Rahman Siddiqui also held a press conference in the evening.
 
Mentioning that there is nothing to panic about, Dr Siddiqui said the Zika-infected person was with his own family in good health and did not need to be hospitalised.