The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday said two more pregnant women, one aged 18 and the other 19, from Pashan have tested positive for Zika virus. This takes the total count of pregnant women diagnosed with the infection to eight. The total number of cases in the city now stands at 15. Dr Rajesh Dighe, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, PMC, said the two pregnant women who had tested positive were from among the slums at Pashan. “We found that the water containers or tanks there are not covered properly and serve as mosquito-breeding sites,” he said. The 18-year-old woman is in her 28th week of pregnancy while the 19-year-old is in the 23rd week of pregnancy. They experienced symptoms like joint ache and headache. However both are stable. Meanwhile, the PMC also reported Zika virus infection in a 15-year-old from Kothrud whose family had availed treatment from a private hospital. The hospital had directly sent the sample to ICMR-NIV and the report was submitted recently. The boy is stable, health authorities said. Overall, Rs 1.3 lakh has been collected as fines from societies and under-construction sites where breeding spots have been identified. On Tuesday, mosquito-breeding sites were detected at 354 homes across Warje, Karvenagar, Mundhwa, Pashan, Ambegaon, Sinhagad road, Kharadi and Kalas. A total of 114 samples of pregnant women from across these areas have been sent to ICMR-NIV for testing for Zika virus infection.
