With India becoming the third non-African country to report a case of clade 1b Mpox, the Union health secretary Apurva Chandra has directed state governments to take preventive measures to minimize the risk of Mpox outbreak in the country.
He directed all states to spread awareness about the disease, its mode of spread, the need or importance of timely reporting, and preventive measures.
It is crucial that any panic amongst the masses is prevented, he said.
“Samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately, and for those that test positive, a sample should be sent to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade,” Chandra said in a letter dated 26 September.
He informed that robust diagnostic testing capabilities are already available with 36 ICMR-supported labs across the country, and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved three ICMR-validated commercial PCR kits.
On Monday, India reported clade 1b strain in a 38-year-old man from Kerala, who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. The patient is currently stable and under observation.
Earlier this month, India’s first Mpox case was reported in a 26-year-old man from Haryana who returned from one of the affected African nations. However, the Mpox strain was the one that was prevalent in the previous outbreak seen in India in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Union health secretary has advised states to review public health preparedness, identify isolation facilities in hospitals, and train human resources, etc.
On 14 August, the World Health Organization announced that the current Mpox outbreak—previously known as Monkeypox disease—is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
This is the second time the WHO has declared Mpox PHEIC under the International Health Regulations, 2005, to which India is a signatory.
A previous Mpox outbreak in 2022 was caused by Mpox virus clade 2. The 2024 PHEIC is related to Mpox virus clade 1, which is more virulent and more transmissible than Mpox clade 2.
This clade has been found outside Africa. One case each of clade 1b has recently been seen from Sweden and Thailand.
The clinical presentation of Mpox clade 1 in adults is similar to clade 2. However, the rate of complications may be higher in clade 1 than clade 2 infections.
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