A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Monday confirmed India’s first case of Mpox clade1b virus – the emergency strain announced by the WHO – in a 38 year old patient in Kerala, who tested positive last week.
This is also South Asia’s first recorded case of the emergency strain, which has so far been reported from six countries in Africa and two outside.
A ministry official said Mpox clade1B was detected in the patient from Malappuram district who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. The previous case detected in India was a non-emergency strain.
The Kerala patient is stable, the official said, noting "this was the first case of the current strain that led to the World Health Organisation declaring Mpox a public health emergency last month for a second time".
The World Health Organisation on August 14 declared that the current outbreak of Mpox following a continuous rise of cases in Congo in the last six months and the spread of the disease to other east African countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Gabon.
The emergency is caused by a new variant (Clade-1b) of the virus, which has also been found in Thailand and Sweden.
The UN health body noted that the clinical features of the infection remain the same. It affected young males between 18-44 years with symptoms of systemic or genital rash followed by fever. The commonest mode of transmission is sexual contact followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.