New Delhi: A 38-year-old man belonging to Kerala’s Malappuram district has been confirmed as having Mpox. Although there has been no word from the Union health ministry, Kerala’s health minister Veena George has confirmed this.
The WHO declared the current Mpox outbreak as a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC) last month. This is considered to be the highest level of alert – but not akin to a ‘pandemic’.
There is no large-scale outbreak except in African nations, mostly including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Nigeria.
A few cases have been reported from other countries ever since the PHEIC was declared.
In India, the government has assessed the overall risk to be low and only a few imported cases are expected.
Mpox spreads from person to person, mainly through close contact with someone who has the infection, the WHO says. Close contact includes skin-to-skin contact.
People with multiple sexual partners, including men who have sex with men, are at higher risk than others. People can also contract the infection from contaminated objects such as clothes, utensils or needles.
As of August 2024, it is clade 1b of the Mpox virus that has been causing the outbreak.
It is not immediately clear what was clade of the Mpox virus the man from Kerala was infected with.
On September 9, another person was confirmed positive in Delhi, but he was found to be infected with clade 2b – the one not circulating majorly now.
According to Mathrubhumi, the patient had arrived from the UAE. He had skin rashes, after which he visited a dermatologist. He had been isolated after he developed some initial symptoms like rashes along with a fever.
Later, he was asked to undergo more investigations, which confirmed the presence of the virus in his body.
He is currently undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College-Hospital in Malappuram.
