First Suspected Case Of Mpox In India; US Gears Up For Severe Strain

New Delhi: A man who recently travelled to India is being suspected of carrying the Mpox virus.

He has been isolated and admitted to a designated hospital, ANI quoted Union Health ministry official as saying.

Samples from the patient have been sent for testing. If confirmed, this will be the first case of Mpox to be detected in India.

“The development of this case is consistent with the earlier risk assessment conducted by the NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control),” the Health ministry said.

To reassure people, the ministry said the patient’s condition is currently stable and there is no cause of any undue concern.

Also Read: Mpox Not The New COVID, Assures WHO Official

Contact tracing is being conducted to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country.

The Health ministry asserted that country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travel-related cases and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk.

Biden Administration On Guard

Meanwhile, the administration in the United States is preparing for the possible arrival of a more severe version of Mpox virus, which has killed around 1,000 people in Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries.

Senior officials have said that the US is gearing up for an outbreak after infections have risen in Africa.

“We’ve been preparing for the arrival of Clade 1 in the United States, especially as we saw the outbreak in Congo and neighbouring countries accelerate,” officials told a news conference.

The administration is not only expanding Mpox surveillance through wastewater analysis, officials are also making efforts to educate the medical community on what to watch for, including he severity of clade 1B and how it spreads.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Clade 1B is extremely severe and can kill up to 10 per cent of infected people. Recent fatality rates have been around 1 to 3.3 per cent.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), which declared Mpox virus as a public health emergency of international concern on August 14, has data of more than 24,800 reported cases of Clade 1B strain.

Clade 2 version of Mpox triggered a global outbreak in 2022 and a surge of cases in the US.