Kanpur's Zika Outbreak Sees Surge Of Nearly 100 Cases

Kanpur's Zika Outbreak: The first Zika case in Kanpur was detected on October 23 and the number of cases has increased over the past week.

At least 89 people, including 17 children, have tested positive for the Zika virus in a surge of cases in the Indian city of Kanpur, its health department said on Monday.

First discovered in 1947, the mosquito-borne virus Zika virus reached epidemic proportions in Brazil in 2015, when thousands of babies were born with microcephaly, a disorder that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.

"There has been a surge in cases of the Zika virus and the health department has formed several teams to contain the spread," Dr Nepal Singh, chief medical officer of Kanpur district in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, told Reuters.

"There is one woman who is pregnant and we are paying special attention towards her."