India confirms its first death from monkeypox in Kerala

India confirmed the first death from the monkeypox virus yesterday.

The death of a 22-year-old man in Kerala who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday confirmed to be the first monkeypox death in India, said Kerala state Health Minister Veena George.

The man was admitted to a private hospital in Thrissur, Kerala after developing acute exhaustion and meningitis, and he died there on Saturday.

As per reports, he returned to India from the UAE on July 22 and was admitted to the hospital on July 27.

His relatives reportedly inform the hospital’s authorities of his positive monkeypox test in UAE after he had passed away on Saturday, said Minister Veena George.

Later, his samples were sent to National Institute of Virology’s Alappuzha unit in Kerala and the reports showed he tested positive for the disease.

This is the first death from monkeypox in India and fourth outside of Africa.

Meanwhile, his 20 contacts, which include family members, friends, a helper, and others who played football with him, fall under the category of high-risk contacts and are under “self-observation”.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan reported its first suspected case of monkeypox on Monday.

A 20-year-old man admitted to a government hospital with a fever for the past four days and rashes on body.

India has so far reported 4 cases of the virus, out of which 3 are from Kerala and one case from Delhi.

Also Read: Andhra Pradesh child shows Monkeypox symptoms, result awaited

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Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis—a virus that spreads from animals to human, however, it is clinically less severe than smallpox.

Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms.

Close contact with an animal or person who has the disease, as well as material that has been contaminated with the virus, can spread the monkeypox virus to humans.

The monkeypox virus has two different varieties (clades), one of which originated in Central Africa and the other in West Africa.

And the Monkeypox outbreak in 2022 is caused by the milder West African clade.

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This virus generally has an incubation period of 6 to 13 days, although it can range from 5 to 21 days for symptoms to appear.

Early signs of the disease include symptoms similar to the flu like:

1.Fever.
2.Headache.
3.Chills.
4.Muscle aches.
5.Fatigue.
6.Swollen lymph nodes.
Rashes commonly appear a few days later. It can be painful when the rash first appears as flat, red bumps.

These bumps turn into blisters that release pus. Eventually, the blisters will dry out and peel off. Two to four weeks could be needed for the entire process.

Not every monkeypox patient experiences every symptom.
In fact, many cases in the current (2022) outbreak aren’t showing the typical pattern of symptoms.