Jaipur Is Now Safe From Zika; No Cases Have Been Reported Since 29th Of October

Dr. Adab Aghwani remembers the time when he was approached by the health authorities to reach Jaipur as soon as possible in order to deal with ways that may be useful for avoiding Zika outbreak that occurred in the Jaipur City region and he feels proud and a sense of accomplishment. Dr. Aghwani was a part of a team made up of 13 doctors who were responsible for dealing with 159 cases of Zika that were reported till the 29^th of October. Initially Zika was only reported in the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu but later the disease started spreading in the Jaipur City. The cases started increasing rapidly and soon went out of hand and thus made it very necessary for health authorities to take an action. Dr. Aghwani expressed that he is glad that he was part of the team that worked very hard irrespective of day or night and finally accomplished getting rid of Zika. The first case of Zika in Jaipur was reported on 22^nd September and did not stop till the end of October with was very dangerous, after door to door surveys and extensive measures to stop mosquito growth the authorities and the team of doctors were able to bring down the cases of Zika to almost zero cases. The authorities received major support from the Accredited Social Health Activists known as ASHA in conducted surveys in more than 2 lakhs houses, which was a major step for getting rid of Zika. Fogging and Temiphose were majorly used to keeping the mosquitos away and environment safe. The Director of Rural Health, Health Department Dr.Ravi Prakash Mathur announced that as there no more cases of Zika being reported since October End the authorities has decided to withdraw the team of the doctors and the agency conducting surveys as everything is under control now. There were also other teams from all over the country that provided technical help to the Jaipur Health Authorities like the national Institute of Malaria Research Chennai, National Institute of Virology Pune and the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme. These teams visited Jaipur regularly between September and October.