English
Malappuram: India has reported the first case of Mpox clade 1b on Monday, September 23, in Kerala’s Malappuram. A 38-year-old patient, who recently travelled from United Arab Emirates (UAE) showed Mpox Clade 1 symptoms, news agency ANI reported citing official sources. This is the same strain that prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to announce a public health emergency, ANI reported.
“India reports first MPOX clade 1 case, which was reported from Kerala Malappuram last week. The patient is a 38-year-old man who travelled from the UAE; this is the strain after which WHO declared a public health emergency,” ANI quoted sources as saying.
“The man had a fever and rash similar to chickenpox on his body, after which doctor get suspicious and sent sample for testing,” they added.
It is worth noting that, it is the second case. as the first Mpox case was reported in Delhi but it was a clade 2 case.
The Mpox clade 1b is rapidly infiltrating communities. According to the World Health Organization, it’s spreading mostly through sexual contacts. Its emergence in nations bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is sounding a loud alarm about an international public health crisis on the horizon.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been a public health issue in parts of Africa for many years but resurfaced as a global concern in 2022.
As the calendar flipped to 2022, a total of 121 countries from every corner of the globe, had reported cases of Mpox to the World Health Organization (WHO). As per a report by WHO updated on September 3, 2024, which gives a global overview of the situation until July 31, 2024, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases stood at 102,997 along with 186 likely cases. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a tragic loss of 223 lives.
In July 2024, 1,425 cases and six deaths were reported globally. More than half of these cases were from the African region (55 per cent), followed by the American region (24 per cent), and the European region (11 per cent). The South-East Asia Region (SEAR) reported 1 per cent of the total cases.
(with ANI inputs)
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