The government has issued a directive over the Mpox outbreak and suggested screening, testing, and contact tracing of all suspected patients. States have also been asked to identify hospitals to prep isolation facilities for treating suspected as well as confirmed cases.
The centre has also directed a review of public health preparedness by senior officials.
Symptoms
The most common symptom is rash (including symmetrical or genital rash), followed by fever, the government directive said citing the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO has declared the Mpox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but assessed the risk of the spread of the disease to be moderate beyond Africa.
Most Mpox cases are found among young men in the 18-44 years age group, the directive said. Sexual contact is the most commonly reported modes of Mpox transmission globally, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.
Read | “Prevent Undue Panic”: Centre’s Advisory To States On Mpox
The mpox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958) in monkeys kept for research and the first reported human case was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, 1970).
No confirmed case has been reported from India so far, but a man who recently returned from a country where confirmed cases have been reported was isolated on Sunday and his samples are being tested. His conditions is reported as stable.
Over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases between January 2022 and August 2024, according to the WHO. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths. This includes five Mpox cases in Pakistan, reports Geo News.
According to the WHO, a vaccine can help prevent the infection. It can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone found infected with Mpox.
