These days we have been looking for news about monkeypox. The monkeypox virus, which is a member of the same virus family as the smallpox virus, is what causes the zoonotic condition known as monkeypox. The WHO reports that although instances have recently been reported from non-endemic countries as well, the disease is endemic in places like West and Central Africa.
But do you know the virus has now entered India also? A man from Kerala who had tested positive for monkeypox in another nation passed away on Saturday in Thrissur. The death from monkeypox would be the fourth outside of Africa and the first to occur in India. The young person, according to sources, arrived in Kerala on July 22 from the United Arab Emirates.
Following the incident, Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Sunday said, “A high-level inquiry will be conducted into the death of a person with symptoms of monkeypox in Chavakkad Kuranjiyur. The result of the test conducted in a foreign country was positive. He sought treatment in Thrissur.”
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She further added, “Delay in seeking treatment will be investigated. The health department called a meeting in Punnayur regarding the death of a young man due to monkeypox. A contact list and route map of the deceased youth were prepared.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that on July 27, he was hospitalised after getting a fever. A death investigation has reportedly been requested by Kerala's health minister. Because India has only documented five occurrences of the illness and the case fatality rate of the virus clade that is now circulating is barely 3-6 percent, the investigation will attempt to determine the causes of the deaths.
Four cases have been recorded in Kerala and one in Delhi, out of the five confirmed cases in India. All of the Kerala instances have a history of travel abroad, but the Delhi case does not.
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If reports are to be believed, more than 21,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported worldwide since May in nearly 80 countries. In Africa, primarily in Nigeria and the Congo, where a more deadly variant of monkeypox is spreading than in the West, there have been 75 suspected deaths. In addition, deaths attributed to monkeypox have been reported in Brazil and Spain.