Monkeypox Virus: Risk of large outbreak of mpox low in India for now, says Health Ministry official

Monkeypox Virus is currently circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and over a dozen other African countries; as of now, there is no case in India. The Union Health Ministry in New Delhi on Monday (August 19, 2024) described the circulating variant of the monkeypox virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and more than a dozen African nations as virulent with the mortality rate of 3% as against traditional.

One percent comprises the members recovered form the less virulent strain. According to our estimation the probability is moderate that it will spread from Africa into India We are also not putting in any country-wise alert This instance As of now, India does not have any reported case of monkey pox However, on Monday a senior Health Ministry official said that hospitals and doctors have been advised that any patient presenting symptoms must be reported immediately India is also prepared and is looking at large scale testing provisions should the need arise.

Monkeypox Risk: Another Epidemic?

The Union Health Ministry on Monday (August 19, 2024) declared the strain of monkeypox virus presently prevalent in the Democratic Republic of Congo and over a dozen African countries is quite lethal given a death rate of 3 percent, unlike the zero percent of the previous or the current global strain of monkeypox virus . From the less sensitive strain, 1% were reported to have succumbed to death.

“In terms of its risk, ours assessment is moderate there are chances it might spread to India from Africa. We have not placed any country-specific alert as such because right now it doesn’t warrant any alarm. As a precaution, hospitals and doctors have been informed that any patient displaying symptoms must report it without fail. As of now, there is no case reported in India,” said a senior Health Ministry official on Monday.

Regarding the possibility of occasional cases of the virus imported to the country being identified in the coming weeks, several assessments have been made and for the present, it has been considered that the probability of an outbreak with sustained transmission in India is low at present. The WHO has classed monkeypox as a PHEIC for the second time on August 14, point out that the viral disease could geographical extend to more countries rapidly.

This was followed by an Emergency Committee of independent experts in a bid to response to the continuously increasing number of infections in the DRC and the diffusion of the disease into new African countries where it had never been noticed before.

The number of infections is 160% higher than in 2023 and the virus has now spread to six new countries in the last 10 days, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had said, earlier this month.
It is classified into two clades namely the central African clade, Clade 1 which is endemic in the Congo basin and the West African clade, Clade 2.

Monkeypox disease is rather mild in most patients, and like MPX, the infection commonly lasts for 2-4 weeks, and patients get cured by a conservative management. The mode of transmission is through direct prolonged, intimate contact with an affected person and is mainly sexual, direct contact with body or lesion fluid, or through the clothes or linen of an affected person.

Earlier in July 2022, WHO had categorized monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and again in May 2023 withdrew this status. International: As from June 2022 WHO has noted of 99,176 confirmed cases, and 208 deaths resulting from monkey pox in 116 countries. After the WHO declaration in 2022, in India a total of 30 cases were reported and the last case was reported in March 2024.

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