A 38-year-old man from Malappuram district of Kerala has been confirmed to have contracted monkeypox (Mpox), state health minister Veena George said on Wednesday.
The patient, a native of Edavanna, who recently travelled to the state from the UAE, is already undergoing treatment at Manjeri Medical College Hospital with Mpox symptoms, George said.
The minister requested people, including those coming from abroad, to seek immediate medical care if they have Mpox symptoms. The health department has arranged treatment and isolation facilities at one hospital in each district.
The man's samples were sent for testing and the results confirmed positive on Wednesday.
A district health official said that the patient arrived in Kerala a few days ago and, after falling sick, was first admitted to a private hospital.
"From there he was admitted to the Manjeri Medical College. On suspecting that it might be a case of monkeypox, we sent his samples to the Kozhikode Medical College for testing," he said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had last month declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for the second time in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa. According to the world health body, common symptoms of Monkeypox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.
Earlier this month, a man who recently travelled from a country experiencing Mpox transmission had tested positive for the disease.
The Union health ministry had said that it was an isolated case, similar to the earlier 30 cases reported in India from July 2022 onwards. It is not a part of the current public health emergency reported by WHO which is regarding clade 1 of Mpox, it had underlined.