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India has reported its first case with the new mpox strain and called for a public health emergency alert, the World Health Organisation (WHO) report has said.
The new variant which is named 'clade1b' is highly transmissible and has been linked to the mpox outbreak in Africa.
It was reliably gathered that the strain was detected in a 38-year-old man from the southern state of Kerala who returned from Dubai recently.
Mpox, previously known as monkey pox, is a contagious virus that can cause painful skin lesions.
The WHO declared mpox, which used to be called monkeypox, a public health emergency in Africa in August.
Following the declaration, more variants of the virus have spread across to countries outside the African continent, including Sweden, Thailand and Pakistan.
India health Ministry spokesperson Manisha Verma on Tuesday confirmed the news that the mpox case reported in Kerala’s Malappuram district belonged to clade 1.
The patient is being treated in a hospital and the people he came in contact with are being traced and monitored, authorities said.
The district’s health officer said that about 29 friends and family members of the patient along with 37 passengers on board his flight were being monitored but none of them had exhibited any symptoms so far, the news agency reported.
In the last two years, India has reported more than 30 mpox cases caused by the older clade 2 strain, which is considered to be less infectious.
Earlier this month, the mpox strain was detected in a man from northern Haryana state, who was admitted in hospital for a few days.
Mpox spreads from animals to humans and between people through close contact with someone who is infected including through sex, skin to skin contact and talking or breathing close to another person.
It can cause symptoms such as fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and lesions across the body. If left untreated, mpox can be deadly.
The government has issued an advisory to all states, asking them to be vigilant for potential mpox cases.
