India has reported its first case of mpox strain which has caused a public health emergency alert by the World Health Organization (WHO), reports Reuters.
Called clade 1b, the new variant is highly transmissible and linked to outbreak of smallpox in Africa.
According to media reports, the incident was discovered in a 38-year-old man from Kerala who recently returned from Dubai.
Mpox, formerly known as monkey pox, is a contagious virus that can cause painful sores on the skin.
The WHO declared smallpox, formerly known as monkeypox, a public health emergency in Africa in August.
Since then, more dangerous variants of the virus have spread to countries outside the African continent, including Sweden, Thailand and Pakistan.
On Tuesday, Health Ministry spokesperson Manisha Verma confirmed to Reuters that the mpox case reported in Kerala’s Malappuram district is of clade 1.
The patient is being treated at a hospital and the people he met are being tracked and contacted, authorities said.
The health officer in this region said that there were about 29 friends and family members of the patient and 37 passengers who were on board his plane, but none of them have shown symptoms so far, the media reported.
In the past two years, India has reported more than 30 cases of mpox caused by the old clade 2 strain, which is considered non-infectious.
Earlier this month, a mpox strain was found in a man from northern Haryana, who was hospitalized for several days.
Mpox is spread from animals to people and between people through close contact with an infected person – including sex, skin-to-skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
It can cause symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes and sores all over the body. If left untreated, mpox can be fatal.
The federal government has issued an advisory to all states, asking them to be aware of possible cases of smallpox.
About 35 laboratories across the country have been designated to test suspected mpox cases.
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