India reports first MPOX Clade 1 case in Kerala

India on Monday reported its first case of MPOX clade 1 case, the strain that prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency, in Kerala's Malappuram.

The patient is a a 38-year-old man and recently traveled in from the United Arab Emirates and is reportedly stable.

The previous Mpox case in the national capital involved a 26-year-old resident of Hisar, Haryana, who tested positive for the West African Clade 2 strain earlier this month.


Also Read: Mpox is not the new COVID, says WHO official; Here's what you need to know about different monkey pox strains

Since the WHO declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in 2022, India has reported a total of 30 cases.

In August, Thailand confirmed its first case of the Clade 1b strain of mpox - new and potentially deadlier strain of the virus. The infected person was a 66-year-old European man who arrived in Bangkok from an unnamed African country. The Clade 1b strain has a mortality rate of 3 percent, which is much higher than the 0.2 percent mortality rate associated with the Clade IIb version reported in 2022.

It was the second instance of this deadlier version being reported outside Africa follows its recent detection in Sweden.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi in August issued protocol for handling patients suspected to have contracted the Mpox virus. The statement came soon after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the virus to be of international concern and a public health emergency.

"Monkey pox is a virtual zoonosis with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although clinically less severe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Monkey pox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, thereby requiring heightened awareness, rapid identification, and stringent infection control measures to prevent further spread," AIIMS said in its official protocol order.

Mpox outbreaks: WHO warning

The World Health Organization declared mpox, also known as monkeypox, a global health emergency due to its increasing spread in Africa. This announcement followed a meeting of the UN health agency's emergency committee and comes a day after the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox a public health emergency on the continent.

WHO reported more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in Africa this year, which exceeds last year's figures. Over 96% of these cases are concentrated in Congo, where a new, possibly more transmissible form of the virus is causing concern.