PUNE: The Zika virus found in Pune belongs to the Asian strain or genotype.
Scientists at the city-based Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) found it through complete genetic sequencing of the virus after isolating it from the blood sample of the Belsar woman (51), testing positive for the Zika virus during the routine outbreak investigation on July 30.
Zika virus (ZIKV) is classified into two lineages — African and Asian/American. The American lineage — derived from the recent central American outbreaks — is diverged out of the Asian lineage. Understanding the genetic lineage of the Zika virus is of paramount importance because, unlike the Asian strain, African and American strains are associated with neurological defects in infants of Zika-infected pregnant women.
“The complete genome sequencing of the Zika virus found in Pune has revealed that the sequence belongs to the Asian genotype,” said a senior ICMR official.
In India, the previous outbreaks were largely of the Asian genetic lineage. The latest Zika outbreak in Kerala also has the virus matching the Asian strain.
There are concerns that if the Zika virus gets transmitted from a pregnant woman to her foetus, it can result in microcephaly and other congenital malformations in the infant, collectively referred to as congenital Zika syndrome. The scientists have cautioned that the Asian strain may also cause microcephaly (smaller than normal head size), depending on the timing of Zika virus infection during pregnancy.
The state surveillance officials have intensified the monitoring and testing of pregnant women. “Barring the Belsar woman, blood sample of nobody else has tested positive for Zika virus so far in Maharashtra,” said state surveillance officer Pradip Awate.
