Zika, a mosquito-borne viral infection, was confirmed in an employee of one of the courts at the district court complex at Thalassery on Saturday through blood tests.
The Zika-positive sample was one among the several blood samples that had been sent to the National Institute of Virology at Alappuzha by the Kannur district medical administration. The blood samples had been sent for virological analysis after several court employees and judicial officers complained of feeling uneasiness, fatigue, rashes on the skin, headache and joint pain a few days ago. Many of them had been experiencing the symptoms for over 10 days, it was said.
The three courts functioning in the district court complex have remained closed since Wednesday because of the “mystery ailments” reported by several court employees all at once. Following this, the district health administration had collected blood samples from over 50 persons who had complained of symptoms for lab analysis
Now that the mystery disease has turned out to be Zika, the health administration has launched immediate vector- control measures on the court premises. Zika is spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes found in high density across the State.
Intermittent rain over the past few weeks had led to an explosion of vector density in several parts of the State and other mosquito-borne infections such as dengue has also been on the rise in most districts
Zika was first officially confirmed in the State in 2021 June, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease passes off as mild fever with itchy rashes, which usually resolves itself within four-five days. Except for rare neurological manifestations like Guillian Barre syndrome in some, the disease has little significance for the general population. However, in pregnant women, especially those in the early trimester, the infection can seriously harm the developing foetus and lead to congenital anomalies.
