PUNE: Fever patients testing negative for dengue and chikungunya would be tested for Zika virus infection in Maharashtra to pick up cases by expanding the scope of laboratory diagnosis across the state.
A network of 57 laboratories has been readied for Zika virus detection across the country. Of them, six laboratories are in Maharashtra, including Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur, Kasturba Hospital, Mumbai, and Haffkine Institute for Training, Research Testing, Mumbai. Three more government-designated sentinel centres will be activated for the Zika vuris detection.
“In addition to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, the apex lab for Zika virus detection, another six labs in Maharashtra will start testing every negative dengue/chikungunya sample for the virus. These labs are equipped to function as Zika testing centres in addition to their routine diagnostic work in vector-borne diseases,” the stat’se surveillance officer Pradip Awate told TOI.
For this, these labs would be supplied with the testing kits needed for conducting the RT-PCR test through the NIV in a day or two, Awate said.
The mosquito that transmits the Zika virus — Aedes aegypti — also transmits dengue and chikungunya viruses, widely prevalent in the state.
The Indian Council of Medical Research’s Delhi-based National Centre for Disease Control and Pune-based NIV are the apex laboratories to support the outbreak investigation and for confirmation of laboratory diagnosis of Zika virus in India. The RT-PCR test is the standard test for the detection of Zika. There is no commercially available test.
Zika virus infection should be suspected in patients reporting an acute onset of fever, rash and joint pain, among those individuals who travelled to areas with ongoing transmission during the two weeks preceding the onset of illness.
“During 2017, ICMR had strengthened countrywide diagnostic preparedness for Zika at 57 government-designated laboratories. They can perform tests,” said NIV’s senior scientist Pragya Yadav, one of the chief researchers for Zika virus in India.
