Why was public kept in dark for 8 months after first Zika case in India? quoting : Business Standard

The WHO strongly encourages governments to quickly report potential and actual public health threats so that the problem can be nipped in the bud. The Indian government may have failed in its duty to report a public health threat, but it's not too late to learn from this experience. Unused resourcesThe Indian government developed a communication plan to tell the public about Zika before the first laboratory Zika case was identified last November. With few Zika cases and a comprehensive surveillance system, India is fortunate to have avoided disaster – so far. And the authorities excluded Zika cases from the official infectious disease monitoring and reporting website even after of the cases was released.




(Felipe Dana/AP)Officials in India knew about the country's first case of Zika virus infection months ago. But they didn't alert the public because they didn't want "people to start panicking," one health official said this week. The Zika virus has been linked to microcephaly. Doctors confirmed the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly in April. "They have lied to our faces by not telling us about Zika cases."Everything you ever wanted to know about the Zika virus and its spread across North and South America.

Did India hide its first cases of Zika virus?

Image copyright SPL Image caption Zika is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is most active during the dayDid India conceal its first cases of the Zika virus? 'No mention'"There was no mention of Zika virus or cases to us," the official said. Even before the first official case of the Zika virus was registered in Nigeria, researchers concluded in a paper published in 1953 that "significant numbers" of people had been exposed to the virus in India. Image copyright Reuters Image caption The firs Zika cases in India have been reported from Ahmedabad cityMore than 34,000 human samples and 12,647 mosquito samples have been tested for Zika. Three entomological - study of insects - laboratories are conducting Zika virus testing on mosquito samples.


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