According to Delhi health officials, the patient has no record of foreign travel but recently attended a party in Himachal Pradesh's Manali.
Published Jul 24, 2022 | 3:35 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 29, 2022 | 11:07 AM
Representative image of the Mpox virus (Creative Commons)
With the first case of Monkeypox reported in Delhi on Sunday, 24 July, where the patient does not have any history of foreign travel, experts are saying that in the absence of epidemiological evidence, there is no certainty that local transmission of the disease has taken place.
“All three cases reported in Kerala are foreign returnees. The Delhi case is the first in which the patient has no foreign travel. We will have to wait for epidemiological evidence. Only a proper study can confirm if it is a local transmission or not,” Dr Rakesh Mishra, former director of CCMB in Hyderabad, told South First.
“It is only the fourth case reported in the country. Added to that it is a fact that Monkeypox is not highly transmissible, at least as yet,” Professor Satyajit Rath from IISER in Pune told South First.
“As a result, I am not even sure if there is substantial transmission locally or not. We will have to wait for more evidence,” he added.
Globally, over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 75 countries.
According to WHO, five cases of Monkeypox have been reported in the South-East Asia Region: four from India and one from Thailand.
Delhi on Sunday reported its first case of Monkeypox.
According to health reports, a 34-year-old man with no foreign travel history was diagnosed with the disease.
The man, however, is said to have attended a party in Himachal Pradesh’s Manali.
Health officials said the man was admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital after he complained of fever and skin lesions.
According to the officials, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune confirmed the diagnosis.
“All precautionary measures like identifying the source, enhanced contact tracing, and testing sensitisation of private practitioners are being carried out,” the officials said.
Senior officials of the Directorate General of Health Services called a high-level meeting to decide on the measures to be taken to contain the spread of the disease.
