JAIPUR: With eight more persons tested positive for Zika virus in the city on Tuesday, the total Zika-infected cases increased to 80.At a time when the health department is claiming that Zika virus is not life-threatening, 22 pregnant women have already been tested positive for Zika virus disease (ZVD) in the city since the first case of the ZVD was found on September 22.There is higher risk of microcephaly among babies born to mothers who have not completed first trimester of pregnancy when infected with Zika virus.Microcephaly is a condition in which an infant is born with underdeveloped brain and smaller head size.“So far 80 persons have tested positive for ZVD in the city. Among them, 22 are pregnant women,” said health minister Kalicharan Saraf.Till date, the health department took samples of 574 pregnant women and out of those 390 have not completed their first trimester. So far, samples of urine and blood from 1,187 suspected Zika patients have been taken.First infant born to a Zika infected mother has already been reported from the city. A 30-year-old woman had given birth to healthy baby on October 8. She was infected when she had completed her full term of pregnancy, which is why, the baby born to her was fine.The health department is keeping a close watch on the health of pregnant women and collecting information about the duration of pregnant. Health department officials said that there is higher risk of microcephaly when pregnant women are infected with Zika virus in her first trimester of pregnancy. During first trimester, brain and spine of baby is developed. If infected in first trimester, the foetus’s brain and head do not develop properly.Since cases of Zika virus are on the rise, a team of experts from Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune arrived in the city on Tuesday. “The team from Pune will conduct a study on Zika virus,” Saraf said.He added that the team from the Centre, who is camping in the city for helping the state government in preventing spread of Zika, has also expressed satisfaction on the efforts made by the health department aiming to prevent spread of Zika.

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