Kerala reports another case of monkeypox, infections now at seven across India
Kerala reported another case of monkeypox from the Malappuram district, taking the number of such infections to seven across the country, said the state health minister’s office Tuesday.
“The infected person, a 30-year-old, had reached Kozhikode airport from UAE on July 27. He is undergoing treatment in Malappuram. Four of his primary contacts have been put under observation,” said a release from Health Minister Veena George.
Kerala had reported India’s first monkeypox case on July 14 and a 22-year-old man who died on Saturday was found to have tested positive for monkeypox.
The man had tested positive for the infection in the UAE on July 19, a day before he boarded the flight to Kozhikode. He got admitted to a local hospital in Thrissur on July 27, but the fact that he had tested positive for the zoonotic disease in UAE was communicated to the doctors only on July 30, the day he died.
Subsequently, his samples were sent to NIV Pune to ascertain whether he had the infection at the time he died. On Monday, NIV Pune confirmed that the man did have the West African variant of the infection.
