After showing symptoms, he was brought to a hospital, following which his samples were sent...
Digital Desk: A 31-year-old man from Kannur in Kerala tested positive for monkeypox on Monday, making it the country's second verified case, a Union health ministry official said.
Reportedly, the patient landed at the Mangalore airport in coastal Karnataka on July 13 after travelling from Dubai. After showing symptoms, he was brought to a hospital, following which his samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, where the doctors reported that the virus had been detected in him.
After the first verified case of monkeypox was discovered in the Kollam district on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry sent a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Kerala last week to help the state health authorities take public health measures.
"In view of the report of confirmation of a case of monkeypox disease from Kollam district in Kerala, the health ministry has decided to depute a multi-disciplinary central team to support the state government of Kerala in investigating the outbreak and institute requisite public health measures," an official memorandum by the health ministry last week read.
The team will work closely with state health departments to assess the situation on the ground and identify required public health initiatives, the officials stated.
"The Government of India is taking proactive actions by monitoring the situation carefully and working with states in case of any such likelihood of an outbreak," the health ministry had earlier stated.
The World Health Organization describes monkeypox as a viral zoonosis, or an animal-to-human virus transmission, with symptoms like those once experienced by people with smallpox but less severe clinically.
With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the consequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopox virus for public health.
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