Incidence of Zika Virus in the second regional health between 2018-2022 using Real-time Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique

Abstract

             Zika virus disease is an important  mosquito-borne disease in Thailand. Although , no death cases have been found in  Health  Region 2 , cases of Zika-related microcephaly have been reported in children. The Zika virus (ZIKV) RNA in  plasma  and/or  urine  is   diagnosed  by   Real-time   reverse   transcriptase  polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) ,  it is the proper laboratory  diagnostic test for this disease.  Currently , there  are  no  reports  the  incidence of  confirmed cases of infected patients by  Real-time  RT-PCR technique.  This study aimed to investigate the incidence of Zika virus disease using Real-time RT-PCR technique in Health  Region  2 between  2018  and  2022.  A total of  1,413  samples were tested for ZIKV using Real-time RT-PCR technique. The results revealed that 132 samples were positive (8.98%).  According to data analysis , the most Zika virus disease  patients  was  found in women (65.91%) , and their ages were over 15 years old (79.55%).  The  Zika  virus  disease  was found in  Uttaradit  province  (50.76%) , Phetchabun province (22.73%) , and  Sukhothai province (14.39%) , respectively. Therefore , the confirmed results of the laboratory would be able to investigate , surveillance , prevention and control of disease in mosquito vectors in the disease outbreak area.