Monkeypox infection cases in India and symptoms to identify

The Israeli Health Ministry has reported the detection of new cases of monkeypox and measles in the country, news agency IANS has reported citing Xinhua news agency. The Ministry did not specify the exact number of new monkeypox cases, but the Israel Medical Association said on Tuesday that there were five new cases alongside two suspected cases. In 2023, the Ministry reported 11 cases, nine of them from an outbreak of the virus in a kindergarten in the coastal city of Tel Aviv in October. The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark (1958).

Yes, there is a risk of monkeypox in India. In July 2022, India reported the first case of monkeypox in the WHO South-East Asia Region. A 35-year-old man who arrived from the Middle East developed the symptoms of monkeypox. Until July end in 2023, a total of 27 confirmed cases of monkeypox disease were reported in the country, including 12 from Kerala and 15 from Delhi, the government had informed Parliament. In this year, no cases of monkeypox have been reported so far.

Monkeypox virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans via indirect or direct contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets. Transmission appears to be occurring primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, clothing, that have infectious skin particles.

The common symptoms of monkeypox are rash on hands, feet, chest, face, or mouth or near the genitals, including penis, testicles, labia, and vagina, and anus. Other symptoms of monkeypox include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches, backache, headache and respiratory symptoms like sore throat, nasal congestion and cough.

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To prevent monkeypox one needs to be alert about the symptoms. The WHO advises that if you have monkeypox tell anyone you have been close to recently, stay at home until all scabs fall off and a new layer of skin forms, cover lesions and wear a well-fitting mask when around other people and avoid physical contact.