India now under Zika risk category 2

Following the detection of Zika virus cases in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has put India in Category 2 of risk classification, which essentially means that India is an area of on-going transmission of Zika virus.

For those countries in risk classification Category 2, WHO warns, “Countries in this category may experience outbreaks of the disease, which will be difficult to distinguish from seasonal fluctuations or surveillance artefacts.”

India will be monitored by WHO for 12 months at least before it expects a relief in the change of category. “The minimum timeline for determining transition to an interrupted state is 12 months after the last confirmed case. If no cases are identified in travelers, a reclassification may be considered after provision of surveillance data followed by an expert review,” a WHO official said.

Until April 13, 2017, India was put in Category 4 (an area with established competent vector but no known documented cases of past or current transmission). The vector is ‘Aedes Aegypti,’ a species of mosquitoes, which cause dengue, chikungunya, and Zika.