New Delhi, Sept 9: A man who recently travelled from a country experiencing Mpox transmission has been tested positive for the disease, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the previously suspected case of Mpox (monkeypox) has been verified as a travel-related infection. Laboratory testing has confirmed the presence of the Mpox virus of West African clade-2 in the patient.
“This case is an isolated case, similar to the earlier 30 cases reported in India from July 2022 onwards, and is not a part of the current public health emergency (reported by WHO), which is regarding clade 1 of mpox,” the ministry said in its statement.
“The individual, a young male who recently travelled from a country experiencing ongoing Mpox transmission, is currently isolated at a designated tertiary care isolation facility. The patient remains clinically stable and is without any systemic illness or comorbidities,” it added.
The case aligns with earlier risk assessments and continues to be managed according to established protocols. Public health measures, including contact tracing and monitoring, are actively in place to ensure the situation is contained. There is no indication of any widespread risk to the public at this time, the ministry said.
Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra on Monday issued an advisory to states and union territories regarding the precautionary actions, symptoms, and causes of the WHO-declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern “Mpox.”
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been a public health issue in parts of Africa for many years but resurfaced as a global concern in 2022.
Since January 1, 2022, Mpox cases have been reported to the WHO from 121 member states across all six WHO regions. The WHO Mpox report dated September 3, 2024, provides global data up to July 31, 2024. A total of 102,997 laboratory-confirmed cases and 186 probable cases, including 223 deaths, have been reported to the WHO.
In July 2024, 1,425 cases and six deaths were reported globally. More than half of these cases were from the African region (55 per cent), followed by the American region (24 per cent), and the European region (11 per cent). The South-East Asia Region (SEAR) reported 1 per cent of the total cases.
