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Stopping the ZIKA virus (Following India’s first outbreak of Zika…
Stopping the ZIKA virus
Following India’s first outbreak of Zika infections in Rajasthan in September 2018, Madhya Pradesh has now reported a second one, with six districts affected.
Zika is spread by the mosquito species, Aedes aegypti . It thrives in stagnant water.
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Such birth defects include an abnormally small head (microcephaly), eye damage, shortened muscles and joints, and hearing damage.
This is why the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that in areas with ongoing Zika transmission, pregnant women should be made aware of Zika’s dangers.
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Given that Zika can spread through sexual activity, they should avoid unprotected sex, while couples planning to have children should consider delaying pregnancies
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the ICMR’s surveillance system relies on a technique called Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), which looks for Zika’s genetic signature in patient blood samples.
But RT-PCR tends to throw up false-negatives when there is too little virus in the patient’s blood,
The good news is that birth defects such as microcephaly, contractures and clubfoot can be picked up during sonography at around 17 to 18 weeks of pregnancy,
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Researchers, including one of Indian origin, have developed Six new antibodies to combat Zika
To help diagnose as well as treat the mosquito-borne disease that has infected over 1.5 million people worldwide.
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The antibodies “may have the dual utility as diagnostics capable of recognising Zika virus subtypes and may be further developed to treat Zika virus infection,”
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When a virus invades the body, antibodies bind to antigens associated with the bug, marking it for the immune system to destroy.