Thiruvananthapuram:

The Kerala health department on Friday said another Mpox case was reported in the state and urged those who have symptoms to seek treatment.

The southern state had reported the country’s first confirmed case of the new strain earlier this week.

A high-level evaluation meeting was held on Friday to evaluate the situation, the state health department said.

State Health Minister Veena George said the contact list of the patient has been prepared and the preventive measures have been taken.

The minister urged everyone who reached the state from abroad to approach the health department in case of any symptoms and seek treatment.

“Isolation facilities have been arranged in all the districts,” the minister said in a statement.

On September 23, the health department had announced plans to release revised guidelines for the prevention and treatment of Mpox.

George had said that instructions were issued to take necessary action if the number of cases increases.

Official sources in New Delhi had earlier said that India had reported the first case of the Mpox strain in a patient from Kerala who tested positive.

They had said that the Clade 1b strain was detected in a 38-year-old man from Malappuram district who had recently returned from the United Arab Emirates.

Since the WHO’s 2022 declaration of Mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, 30 cases have been reported in India.

Mpox infections are generally self-limiting, lasting between two and four weeks, and patients usually recover with supportive medical care and management.

It is transmitted through prolonged and close contact with an infected patient.

Mpox typically manifests itself with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Ms. Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral.

In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child she lost and worried about the rest of her family. “When she was born, it was as if God had answered our prayers — we wanted a girl,” Wisoba said of little Maombi Katengey. “But our biggest joy was transformed into devastation.”

In Congo’s Kamituga children are the worst sufferers

Her daughter is one of more than 6,000 people officials suspect have contracted the disease in South Kivu province, the epicenter of the world’s latest mpox outbreak, in what the World Health Organization has labeled a global health emergency. A new strain of the virus is spreading, largely through skin-to-skin contact, including but not limited to sex. A lack of funds, vaccines and information is making it difficult to stem the spread, according to alarmed disease experts.

Mpox — which causes mostly mild symptoms like fever and body aches, but can trigger serious cases with prominent blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals — had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa, until a 2022 outbreak reached more than 70 countries. Globally, gay and bisexual men made up the vast majority of cases in that outbreak. But officials note mpox has long disproportionately affected children in Africa, and they say cases are now rising sharply among kids, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, with many types of close contact responsible for the spread.

Health officials have zeroed in on Kamituga, a remote yet bustling gold mining town of some 300,000 people that attracts miners, sex workers and traders who are constantly on the move. Cases from other parts of eastern Congo can be traced back here, officials say, with the first originating in the nightclub scene.

Since this outbreak began, one year ago, nearly 1,000 people in Kamituga have been infected. Eight have died, half of them children.

Not enough awareness about symptoms

Last month, the World Health Organization said mpox outbreaks might be stopped in the next six months, with governments’ leadership and cooperation.

But in Kamituga, people say they face a starkly different reality.

There’s a daily average of five new cases at the general hospital, which is regularly near capacity. Overall in South Kivu, weekly new suspected cases have skyrocketed from about 12 in January to 600 in August, according to province health officials.

Even that’s likely an underestimate, they say, because of a lack of access to rural areas, the inability of many residents to seek care, and Kamituga’s transient nature.

Locals say they simply don’t have enough information about mpox.

Before her daughter got sick, Ms. Wisoba said, she was infected herself but didn’t know it.

Painful lesions emerged around her genitals, making walking difficult. She thought she had a common sexually transmitted infection and sought medicine at a pharmacy. Days later, she went to the hospital with her newborn and was diagnosed with mpox. She recovered, but her daughter developed lesions on her foot.

Nearly a week later, Maombi died at the same hospital that treated her mother.

Ms. Wisoba said she didn’t know about mpox until she got it. She wants the government to invest more in teaching people protective measures.

Local officials can’t reach areas more than a few miles outside Kamituga to track suspected cases or inform residents. They broadcast radio messages but say that doesn’t reach far enough.

Kasindi Mwenyelwata goes door to door describing how to detect mpox — looking for fevers, aches or lesions. But the 42-year-old community leader said a lack of money means he doesn’t have the right materials, such as posters showing images of patients, which he finds more powerful than words.

ALIMA, one of the few aid groups working on mpox in Kamituga, lacks funds to set up programs or clinics that would reach some 150,000 people, with its budget set to run out at year’s end, according to program coordinator Dr. Dally Muamba.

If support keeps waning and mpox spreads, he said, “there will be an impact on the economy, people will stop coming to the area as the epidemic takes its toll. … And as the disease grows, will resources follow?”

Health experts said that, what’s needed most are vaccines — even if they go only to adults, under emergency approval in Congo.

None has arrived in Kamituga, though it’s a priority city in South Kivu, officials said. It’s unclear when or how they will. The main road into town is unpaved — barely passable by car during the ongoing rainy season.

Once they make it here, it’s unclear whether supply will meet demand for those who are at greatest risk and first in line: health staff, sex workers, miners and motorcycle taxi drivers.

Congo’s government has budgeted more than $190 million for its initial mpox response, which includes the purchase of 3 million vaccine doses, according to a draft national mpox plan, widely circulating among health experts and aid groups this month and seen by The Associated Press. But so far, just 250,000 doses have arrived in Congo and the government’s given only $10 million, according to the finance ministry.

Most people with mild cases recover in less than two weeks. But lesions can get infected, and children or immunocompromised people are more prone to severe cases.

Doctors can ensure lesions are clean and give pain medication or antibiotics for secondary infections such as sepsis.

But those who recover can get the virus again.

Lack of resources and knowledge

Experts say a lack of resources and knowledge about the new strain makes it difficult to advise people on protecting themselves. An internal report circulated among aid groups and agencies and seen by AP, said confidence in the available information about mpox in eastern Congo and neighbouring countries low.

While the variant is known to be more easily transmissible through sex, it’s unclear how long the virus remains in the system. Doctors tell recovered patients to abstain from sex for three months, but acknowledge the number’s largely arbitrary.

“Studies haven’t clarified if you’re still contagious or not … if you can or can’t have sex with your wife,” said Dr. Steven Bilembo, of Kamituga’s general hospital.

Doctors say they’re seeing cases they simply don’t understand, such as pregnant women losing babies. Of 32 pregnant women infected since January, nearly half lost the baby through miscarriage or stillbirth, hospital statistics show.

Alice Neema was among them. From the hospital’s isolation ward, she told AP she’d noticed lesions around her genitals and a fever — but didn’t have enough money to travel the 30 miles (50 kilometers) on motorbike for help in time. She miscarried after her diagnosis.

As information trickles in, locals say fear spreads alongside the new strain.

Diego Nyago said he’d brought his 2-year-old son, Emile, to the hospital for circumcision when he developed a fever and lepasions.

“I didn’t believe that children could catch this disease,” he said as doctors gently poured water over the boy to bring his temperature down. “Some children die quickly, because their families aren’t informed.

“Those who die are the ones who stay at home.”

New Delhi:

India on Monday reported its first confirmed case of “travel-related” Mpox, or monkeypox, in a young male who tested positive for a strain from western Africa.

The patient is in stable condition, the government has said, and is without systemic illness or comorbidities, having already been isolated over the weekend on suspicion of carrying the virus.

There is no indication of any widespread risk to the public at this time, the government said.

The government explained that testing had confirmed presence of ‘clade 2’ of the virus, and that the particular strain is “similar to 30 cases reported earlier in India, from July 2022 onwards”.

The strain of infection, however, is “not a part of the current public health emergency (declared last month by the World Health Organization), which is regarding ‘clade 1’ of the Mpox virus”.

READ | New Mpox Strain Mutating Very Rapidly. How Scientists Are Responding

A ‘clade’ refers to a biological grouping that refers to all evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor or, in this case, a particular strain of virus.

READ | India’s 1st Mpox Case? Centre Says Man Isolated, No Cause For Alarm

Earlier today the Union Health Ministry issued directives to state governments “review public health preparedness, particularly at health facility level at state and districts by senior officials”.

This should include briefing healthcare workers, “especially those working in skin/STD (sexually transmitted disease) clinics, about symptoms, differential diagnoses, and action to be taken following detection of a Mpox case”.

READ | “Prevent Undue Panic”: Centre’s Advisory To States On Mpox

But it is “crucial”, the government also said to guard against “undue panic…”

Also, to ensure information about Mpox and its common symptoms is available to the public, the government referred to the latest WHO update, which indicates that a majority of patients are men aged 18 to 44, and present with rash (systemic or genital) followed by fever.

And the most commonly reported mode of transmission, the government said, is sexual contact, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact.

Last month the who declared Mpox a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern, based on the risk of spread of the current outbreak from beyond Africa, where a surge in cases has been reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. There is also a new strain from the DRC, scientists said.

Five cases have been reported from Pakistan’s Peshawar, according to Geo News.

READ | Pakistan’s Peshawar Is Mpox ‘Epicentre’? Tally Reaches 5: Report

According to the WHO, so far over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases from January 2022 to August 2024. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths.

READ | Serum Institute Says Working To Develop Monkeypox Vaccine

The WHO says a vaccine can help prevent infection and can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone who has Mpox. “In these cases, the vaccine should be given less than four days after contact (and) can be given for up to 14 days if the person has no symptoms…”

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New Delhi:

The government on Monday recommended screening and testing of all suspected Mpox, or monkeypox patients, and isolation of confirmed cases, as well as contact tracing to “prevent and/or minimise risk of any case or death due to Mpox in the country”.

States and union territories have been urged to identify hospitals to prep isolation facilities and stand ready to receive suspected and confirmed cases, which will need increased resources.

It is “crucial”, the government also said to guard against “undue panic amongst the masses”.

To that end, the Health Ministry has recommended dissemination of guidelines on “management of monkeypox disease” and of a detailed surveillance strategy for tracking of suspected cases and contact tracing – similar to exhaustive measures at the height of the Covid pandemic.

It also offered a list of “laboratories operationalised to undertake testing, clinical management protocol, infection prevention and control practices, as well as risk communication strategies.

The ministry further called for a “review of public health preparedness, particularly at health facility level at state and districts by senior officials”.

This should include briefing healthcare workers, “especially those working in skin/STD (sexually transmitted disease) clinics, about symptoms, differential diagnoses, and action to be taken following detection of a Mpox case”.

To ensure information about Mpox and its common symptoms are widely available, the Health Ministry referred to the latest update by the World Health Organization, which indicated that a majority of monkeypox patients are men between the age of 18 and 44, and present with rash (systemic or genital) followed by fever as the most common symptoms.

Last month Mpox was declared a PHEIC, or Public Health Emergency of International Concern, by the WHO which had assessed the risk of spread of the current outbreak from beyond Africa, where a surge in cases has been reported from the Democratic Republic of Congo and also from other nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. There is also a new strain from the DRC, scientists said.

READ | Pakistan’s Peshawar Is Mpox ‘Epicentre’? Tally Reaches 5: Report

No confirmed case has been reported from India so far, although five have been reported from Pakistan, according to Geo News. The latest patient, a 47-year-old man, tested positive after being isolated by Border Health Services staff on August 29. He had returned from the Gulf region.

READ | India’s 1st Mpox Case? Centre Says Man Isolated, No Cause For Alarm

In India, a man who recently returned from a country where confirmed cases have been reported was isolated on Sunday and his samples are being tested. His conditions is reported as stable.

According to the WHO, so far over 120 countries have reported Mpox cases from January 2022 to August 2024. There have been over 100,000 lab-confirmed cases and around 220 deaths.

READ | Serum Institute Says Working To Develop Monkeypox Vaccine

The WHO says a vaccine can help prevent infection and can also be administered after a person has been in contact with someone who has Mpox. “In these cases, the vaccine should be given less than four days after contact (and) can be given for up to 14 days if the person has no symptoms…”

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Geneva:

UNICEF said Saturday that it has launched an emergency tender for mpox vaccines to help countries hardest hit by the recent outbreak of the disease.

“The emergency tender is designed to secure immediate access to available mpox vaccines as well as to expand production,” UNICEF said in a statement issued along with the World Health Organization, the Gavi vaccine alliance and Africa CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention).

“Depending on demand, production capacity of manufacturers and funding, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be put in place,” it said.

Under the emergency tender, UNICEF plans to set up conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

This “will enable UNICEF to purchase and ship vaccines without delay once countries and partners have secured financing, confirmed demand and readiness, and the regulatory requirements for accepting the vaccines are in place”.

The WHO declared an international emergency over mpox on August 14, concerned by the surge in cases of the new Clade 1b strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to nearby countries.

More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in the DRC so far this year, with 629 deaths.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that droplets were a “minor” route of transmission for mpox compared to physical contact, adding that more research is required to understand how the virus spreads.

The UN health agency declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern on August 14 amid a surge of cases across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its neighbouring countries.

Mainly, two distinct clades of the virus, Ia and Ib, are causing significant concern in the DRC. A third variant, Clade II, originated in Nigeria and has been responsible for the global outbreak that began in 2022.

What is Mpox?

The mpox virus is an orthopoxvirus that causes mpox (monkeypox), a disease with symptoms similar to smallpox, although less severe, according to the WHO website. 

What are the symptoms of Mpox?

1. Fever
2. Extensive characteristic rash 
3. Swollen lymph nodes
4. Headache
5. Back pain and muscle ache
6. Lack of energy

The incubation period of mpox can range from 5 to 21 days. The febrile stage of illness (when fever persists) usually lasts 1 to 3 days, according to WHO. This is followed by the skin eruption stage, which can last for 2 to 4 weeks.

How does Mpox spread?

WHO has said that mpox spreads between people mainly through close physical contact with someone who has the virus. “Close contact includes skin-to-skin (such as touching or sex) and mouth-to-mouth, or mouth-to-skin contact (such as kissing),” it said.

However, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said today that if a person with the virus had lesions, “if you’re talking closely to someone, breathing on them, physically close, face-to-face, there is a possibility” of viral spread, “but this is a minor source”.

“When you’re talking to somebody, you’re spitting out droplets,” but “it’s not a very major form of transmission — and it’s not a… through-the-air, long-distance sort of transmission,” she added.

The WHO recommends the use of facemasks for those with mpox, their close contacts and health workers treating them.

Does mpox have a vaccine?

Yes, there are vaccines recommended by WHO for use against mpox. However, only people who are at risk should get the vaccine. WHO has not recommended mass vaccination against mpox.

How has India prepared for a possible mpox outbreak?

India currently has no active mpox cases. The government had ordered the authorities in airports, ports and borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan to remain alert about incoming international passengers who show mpox symptoms.

The All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had issued protocols for handling suspected mpox cases in India. Various government hospitals were directed to set up isolation rooms for suspected and confirmed cases of mpox.

The institute has recommended setting up a screening process in the triage area wherein, upon arrival, patients with fever, rash, or a history of contact with confirmed mpox cases should be flagged for immediate assessment.

According to an assessment, the risk of a large outbreak with sustained transmission is low, officials had said.
 

(With inputs from AFP)

Manila:

The Philippines has confirmed two more mpox virus infections of the milder clade 2 variety, its health ministry said Monday, bringing the number of active cases to three.

“We continue to see local transmission of mpox clade II here in the Philippines, in Metro Manila in particular,” Health Minister Teodoro Herbosa said in a statement.

The newly confirmed cases were a 37-year-old male in Metro Manila who had rash on his body last week and was brought to a government hospital, and a 32-year-old male from the capital who had skin lesions on his body.

The Philippines announced last week it had detected a case of the mpox virus’ milder variant in a 33-year-old male who had no travel history outside the Philippines.

The three cases this year means the Philippines has had 12 laboratory-confirmed case since July 2022.

The World Health Organization earlier this month declared mpox a global public health emergency, its highest form of alert, for the second time in two years, because of an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that had spread to neighbouring countries.

A new form of the virus has triggered global concern as it seems to spread easily though routine close contact.

The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, leads to flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. It is usually mild but can kill, with children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, all at higher risk of complications.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A health worker attends to a girl suffering from mpox, at a treatment centre in Munigi, eastern Congo, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A total of 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of mpox were reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, including 1,200 cases in one week alone, the African Union health agency said on Saturday.

The figure accounts for three strains of the virus, of which one is the new more deadly, and more transmissible Clade 1b which prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) to declare an international health emergency — the agency’s highest alert.

Also Read: Mpox virus: Tamil Nadu airport, port officials put on alert

To date, 3,101 confirmed and 15,636 suspected cases have been reported from 12 African Union member states, resulting in 541 deaths — a fatality rate of 2.89 percent, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement.

The hardest hit country, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the new Clade 1b strain was first detected in September 2023, has reported 1,005 cases (222 confirmed, 783 suspected) and 24 deaths in one week.

Also Read:WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency

All 26 provinces in the DRC, home to some 100 million people, have reported cases.

Neighbouring Burundi reported 173 cases — 39 confirmed and 134 suspected — which marks a rise of 75% in one week.

More cases have been reported since the beginning of the year than all of 2023, which saw a total of 14,383 cases, according to the Africa CDC.

The first cases of the mpox outside of Africa were recorded this week, in Sweden and Pakistan.

The WHO will soon publish its first recommendations by its emergency committee and, along with NGOs, has also called for the ramping up of vaccine production.

Mpox is a viral disease that can spread from animals to humans, but also human-to-human through sexual or close physical contact. Symptoms include fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions

The Clade 1b causes skin eruptions all over the body, whereas previous variants caused localised lesions around the mouth, face or genitals.

The disease, formerly known as monkeypox, was first detected in humans in the DRC in 1970. The deadlier Clade 1 has been endemic in the Congo Basin in central Africa for decades.

Stockholm:

The World Health Organization said more imported Clade 1 mpox cases were likely to be confirmed in Europe soon, after Sweden on Thursday announced the first such case outside Africa.

“The confirmation of mpox Clade 1 in Sweden is a clear reflection of the interconnectedness of our world… there are likely to be further imported cases of Clade 1 in the European region over the coming days and weeks,” the WHO’s European regional office said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

DR Congo:

An mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 548 people since the start of the year, with all provinces affected by the virus, the health minister said on Thursday in a statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, worried by the rise in cases in DRC and the spread to nearby countries.

“According to the latest epidemiological report, our country has recorded 15,664 potential cases and 548 deaths since the beginning of the year,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said in a separate video message seen by AFP on Thursday.

The DRC is made up of 26 provinces and has a population of around 100 million.

The most affected provinces are South Kivu, North Kivu, Tshopo, Equateur, North Ubangi, Tshuapa, Mongala and Sankuru, Kamba said.

The UN health agency’s decision came the day after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own public health emergency over the growing outbreak.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)