India’s second monkeypox case was confirmed in Kerala’s Kannur district on Monday. State Health Minister Veena George said the patient is a 31-year-old man, currently being treated at Pariyaram Medical College. “The patient’s health condition is reported to be satisfactory. Those in close contact with him have been put under surveillance,” she said.
The patient landed at the Mangalore airport in coastal Karnataka from Dubai on July 13. He was admitted to a hospital after he showed symptoms of the zoonotic disease. His samples were sent to NIV, Pune and they tested positive for monkeypox.
The Union Health Ministry last week rushed a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Kerala to assist the state health authorities in instituting public health measures after the first confirmed case of monkeypox was detected in Kollam district on Thursday. The team had experts drawn from the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi and a senior official from the Ministry of Health along with experts from the Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Kerala.
The first monkeypox-positive patient was a 35-year-old man, who had returned from the UAE. The patient was a native of Kollam district and had arrived at Trivandrum airport on July 12.
The same day (July 14), the Centre asked states to ensure screening and testing of all suspect cases at points of entry and in the community as part of India’s preparedness against the zoonotic disease. It also asked the states and Union Territories to identify hospitals and ensure adequate human resources and logistic support to manage any suspect or confirmed monkeypox case.
According to WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.
(With PTI inputs)
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