Delhi on Sunday reported its first confirmed case of Monkeypox. Surprisingly, the 31-year-old man has no travel history, unlike the three other cases reported in the country. The patient has been admitted to Maulana Azad Medical College with fever and skin lesions, the Health Ministry confirmed today.
The man, a resident of West Delhi, had attended a stag party recently in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, official sources told PTI. The patient was admitted to the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital around three days ago after he showed symptoms of monkeypox.
His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune on Saturday which came out positive, the sources said. "Contact tracing process has been initiated," the sources said.
The first case of the disease in India was reported on July 14 — a 35-year-old person who returned from the UAE, and the second case — in a 31-year-old man who arrived in Kannur from Dubai on July 13 — was confirmed on July 18.
This comes a day after the World Health Organisation declared the rare viral disease a "public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)". The WHO label is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding to collaborate on sharing vaccines and treatments.
Globally, over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 75 countries. In the WHO South-East Asia Region, four cases of monkeypox have been reported, three from India and one from Thailand. The cases reported in India are the ones who returned from Middle East.
Monkeypox virus is transmitted from animals to humans via direct and indirect contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplet.
