A few days after a 38-year-old man from Kerala was confirmed to have been infected with the Mpox Clade 1b strain, known for its increased virulence and transmissibility, Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra issued a list of directives for states and union territories to curb the spread of the virus in India. In the advisory, the Health Secretary pointed out that while the clinical symptoms of Mpox Clade I in adults resemble those of Clade II, Clade I infections tend to result in a higher rate of complications.
Actionable Points for States and Union Territories
With the rise in monkeypox cases, including reports of Clade I infections in over three non-African countries, including India, the Health Ministry laid out essential steps for nationwide implementation to prevent further outbreaks.
The Ministry stressed the importance of increasing community awareness about the virus, its transmission, the need for timely reporting, and preventive measures. It also urged senior officials to assess the readiness of public health systems, particularly at state and district health facilities.
States and union territories were further directed to strictly follow treatment protocols, which include isolating suspected Mpox patients and enforcing stringent infection prevention and control measures.
Additionally, the Health Ministry instructed that if samples, such as skin lesion samples from suspected cases, test positive in designated labs, they must be sent promptly to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the specific clade.
"Robust diagnostic testing capability is already available, with 36 labs supported by ICMR across the country, and three commercial PCR kits validated by ICMR that are now approved by CDSCO," the Health Ministry’s guidelines noted.
The First Mpox Clade I Case
A 38-year-old man from Kerala, who tested positive for the monkeypox virus after returning from the UAE, was found to be infected with the Mpox Clade 1b strain. The virus has two distinct clades—Clade I (with subclades Ia and Ib) and Clade II (with subclades IIa and IIb). The World Health Organization declared the Mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after a surge in cases linked to Clades Ia and Ib, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other nations.
The infected man is currently stable. "This is the first case of the current strain that led to the World Health Organization declaring Mpox a public health emergency for a second time last month," a source revealed.
