The government of India has said there is no cause for panic as the person has been put under isolation
Even a India is waiting with bated breath for what may be its first case of Mpox after a person showing symptoms consistent with that infection isolated, in the US, the CDC has confirmed the first case of bird flu without any known animal exposure.
In a statement the Indian ministry of health has said: “A young male patient, who recently travelled from a country currently experiencing Mpox (monkeypox) transmission, has been identified as a suspect case of Mpox. The patient has been isolated in a designated hospital and is currently stable. Samples from the patient are being tested to confirm the presence of Mpox. The case is being managed in line with established protocols, and contact tracing is ongoing to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country.”
Mpox which was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has since spread to many other countries. In the DRC, more than 22,000 cases and 1200 deaths have been reported since the beginning of this year. Over 100 laboratory-confirmed cases have also been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
The government of India added that the country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travel related cases and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk.
Meanwhile in the US,a human case of avian influenza A(H5) (bird flu) was reported in the state of Missouri. The patient, according to a CDC statement, “had underlying medical conditions, was treated with influenza antiviral medications, subsequently discharged, and has recovered. There is no immediate known animal exposure. No ongoing transmission among close contacts or otherwise has been identified.”
This is the first case in which no exposure to a sick animal has been reported. This is worrying because if the infection starts spreading from human to human then the chances of its spread are much higher and it would indicate that the virus has mutated.
