Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh government has taken all necessary steps to control the spread of Zika virus and will bear the cost of treatment, if anyone is diagnosed with the virus.
At the same time, the government has installed thermal scanner at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) for the people coming from 30 Zika-affected countries.
“The government will bear the cost of treatment, if anyone is diagnosed with Zika virus….. You don’t need to panic about the virus in Bangladesh,” Health Minister Mohammad Nasim said on Tuesday while talking to reporters at Secretariat.
The Minister said, “The government has installed thermal scanner at HSIA for the people coming from the 30 Zika-affected countries. However, there is no information available about possibility spreading Zika virus in the country.
“In case of spotting any suffering from fever, we will conduct further investigation to detect the virus. Until we have been confirmed that he or she is not carrying the virus, we will keep him/her in Isolation Ward, a special room set up inside the Airport for the purpose,” he said.
Detailing government’s various steps, he further said the government has every preparation to tackle the menace that has plagued South American nation Brazil and some other countries. The Health Minister assured that the Bangladesh government would do everything to stop intrusion of the virus.
Zika, an emerging Aedes-mosquito-borne virus, is spreading throughout the Americas recently and it could reach Bangladesh anytime, health experts warn. In this situation, the World Health Organisation urged the regional countries, including Bangladesh, to strengthen surveillance and take preventive measures against the Zika virus disease.
Professor Dr Din Mohammad Nurul Haque, Director General of Health Directorate, said, “If any Zika virus-infected persons will be identified at HSIA they would immediately be sent to Kurmitola General Hospital where a 20-bed special ward has been set up.”
On the other hand, Directorate General of Health Services Abul Khair Md Shamsuzzaman said the government has taken all appropriate measures at airports, sea ports and land ports across the country to detect the virus. “No passenger infected with the Zika virus has entered the country from abroad so far,” the DG claimed.
Aedes aegypti, the carrier of the virus, is also responsible for spreading dengue fever throughout the Indian sub-continent region, especially in Bangladesh and India.
High alerts have been issued at all land ports, including Benapole, to prevent Zika virus so that no one can enter Bangladesh from India with the virus. Immigration police and health workers are now working in this regard.
They are conducting initial test with thermal scanner provided by health department. They have also increased surveillance in the area, officials said.
Sub-Assistant Community Medical Officer Jyotish Chandra Roy, also working at Immigration Checkpost at Benapole, said, “Following a directive from the authority, medical team members have been working on how Zika virus can be prevented. But no Zika virus affected patients are still found in the area. They are in high alert in this regard.”
Meanwhile, concerns have grown even stronger inside the country after news media in Thailand and Taiwan in January reported cases of the virus infection among locals. Both places are popular destinations for Bangladeshi travellers, increasing the risk of the virus also spreading here.
The WHO declared the Zika virus disease reported in the Americas region as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The virus, first discovered in Uganda in 1947, is spread through bites from Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector for dengue that infected higher number of people in Delhi and Dhaka last year. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. The illness is usually mild with the symptoms lasting a week. There is no vaccine for Zika virus disease.
At the moment, the Central and Latin Americas have been hit the hardest, with more than three million reported cases of infection last year, according to the Pan American Health Organisation.
