A 40-year-old resident of Kamareddy with a travel history to Kuwait showed symptoms of Monkeypox on July 24. "The patient was shifted to Fever Hospital in Hyderabad. His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) lab, Pune for testing. He has been isolated," informed the Director of Public Health, Telangana.
The samples to test for the monkeypox virus were found to be negative.
Another suspected patient of monkeypox in Delhi is admitted to the LNJP Hospital. According to sources, the patient had travelled abroad about a month ago. He was admitted on Tuesday afternoon and is in the isolation ward. His reports from the National Institute of Virology, Pune are awaited.
India has reported four cases of Monkeypox so far. The three cases are from Kerala and one case is from Delhi.
"As of now, there are 4 monkeypox cases in India. Govt has taken proactive measures several weeks ago. Screening is being done at airports. 15 laboratories have been set up. The situation is under control and there is no need to panic," said Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog on Tuesday.
On July 23, 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Before monkeypox, only five diseases had been designated as PHEICs since the WHO started using the term in 2005: the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009; polio resurgences in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan in 2014; the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014 and an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2019; the spread of Zika virus in the Americas in 2016; and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
