Delhi on Tuesday reported its third case of monkeypox, with a Nigerian national testing positive. This comes a day after a Nigerian, living in Delhi, tested positive for the zoonotic disease. With this, India reported its 8th case of monkeypox.
Meanwhile, Kerala on Tuesday reported another case of monkeypox, making it the fifth infection in the state. State health minister Veena George said that the patient, a 30-year-old man, reached Kozhikode airport on 27 July from UAE and is undergoing treatment in Malappuram.
India’s eighth case has come a day after a 35-year-old Nigerian man tested positive for monkeypox in the national capital. He is the third person in Delhi to test positive for the infection. The man, who has been staying in Delhi for a year now, has no recent history of foreign or local travel, news agency PTI quoted its sources as saying. His condition was stable.
In the wake of the monkeypox scare, the Delhi government has directed three private hospitals to create at least 10 isolation rooms for such cases — 5 for management of suspected cases and 5 isolation rooms for management of confirmed cases.
The country’s first death due to monkeypox was reported from Kerala recently. The state health minister said a 22-year-old man, who had returned from UAE recently after testing positive for the infection there, succumbed due to the disease on Saturday.
“Monkeypox is not a fatal disease. We have to find out how the death took place. We will also examine why there was a delay in hospitalization,” George had said, adding that doctors told her that he was suffering from some other ailments as well. “The strain identified here is not that virulent, but it spreads fast. Since the infection is fast, we have to take adequate precautions,” she had added. The health minister had a day ago held an emergency meeting of health officials in Thrissur.
People with underlying health conditions, such as kidney disease and certain types of immunosuppression, run a greater risk from monkeypox, according to David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported three other deaths from monkeypox, outside of Africa, since the start of the year. The WHO has declared a global health emergency over a monkeypox outbreak reported from more than 75 countries.
According to the WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis, a virus transmitted to humans from animals, with symptoms similar to smallpox although clinically less severe. Monkeypox typically manifests itself with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications. It is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting for two to four weeks.
Centre’s ‘Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease’ state that human-to-human transmission occurs primarily through large respiratory droplets generally requiring prolonged close contact. The virus can also be transmitted through direct contact with body fluids or lesions, and indirect contact with lesion material such as through contaminated clothing or linen of an infected person. Animal-to-human transmission may occur by bite or scratch of infected animals or through bush meat preparation.
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