Five Zika virus cases detected in Dhaka

Scientists of icddr,b have identified five cases of Zika virus in Dhaka, marking the first cluster in the region.

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) shared the development in a statement on Monday.

It said the study has also found that one of the five Zika virus cases was also infected with dengue virus - the first time this co-infection has been detected in Bangladesh.

The study, conducted on samples screened in 2023, used whole genome sequencing and comparative analysis to reveal that the Bangladeshi strains belong to the Asian lineage, which is associated with severe outcomes like microcephaly and other neurological disorders.

A retrospective surveillance study by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR) in 2016 revealed one confirmed Zika positive case for the first time in Bangladesh.

The sample was collected in 2014 from a patient with no prior history of travelling abroad, suggesting that Zika virus had been circulating in Bangladesh even before the 2015 outbreak in Brazil.

In this study, the authors screened samples from patients coming to the diagnostic facility of icddr,b at Mohakhali in 2023 and performed PCR-based testing for Zika virus in samples from 152 patients with fever and any one other symptom.

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