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Kerala on Friday confirmed the second case of the viral Mpox (monkeypox)
Mpox : Three cases have now been confirmed with this disease in the country. The latest patient who reported with this infection is a male 26 years old who has arrived recently from United Arab Emirates, reports The New Indian Express. The boy was identified by the state health department in Ernakulam.
The patient has been admitted to a private hospital and is under treatment. To get an idea about the nature of infection he has been subjected to, his samples have been sent for genomic sequencing at the National Institute of Virology in Pune.
This Mpox Clade 1b strain is particularly of great concern because it is much more virulent and transmits much more rapidly than other versions of this virus. Indeed, that very variant has been isolated from one of the three Indian cases reported so far.
The first reported case of the Clade 1b strain was that of a 38-year-old man belonging to Edavanna in Malappuram, which had come out positive on September 18.
This diagnosis went straight into the hands of health authorities and led to some swift action at the administrative level in putting preventive measures in place to cut the spread of the virus.
The health authorities do not take this situation lightly, now more especially since the new strain has been discovered. Starting from the first case of Clade 1b, the health authorities heighten their vigilance and amplified measures to fight possible outbreaks.
This includes vigilance surveillance and contact tracing as well as public education over symptoms of Mpox, modes, and ways of curbing its spread.
The Mpox virus, responsible for the same disease, has been everywhere in the news because it acts like the small pox virus and it can be a vector in humans.
Symptoms include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes with most cases not serious but would pose more of a threat than the old ones with these new strains of the virus.
As the event occurs, officials caution the public to be vigilant. They advise those who have recently traveled or whose symptoms all present as a single presentation of Mpox to seek medical care immediately.
Early case detection and isolation is one of the interventions that can be applied to lower the rate of virus spread.
Not having neglected the propensity of the condition to result in widespread cases, the state health department is also gearing itself for a possible outbreak within the next few weeks.
Hospitals have been warned to be on high alert for such cases that may come in, and medical officers are in the process of training to identify the signs quickly.
Public education campaigns are targeted to enlighten the public on knowing about the disease and the means of infection especially in areas newly abreast with new entry points that were affected.
This is what the international health community eagerly awaits, especially with the new development of Clade 1b. The researchers are researching aggressively on the dynamics and pathogenicity of the infective strain so as to ascertain the severity of the problem so as to effectively curtail it from creating an outbreak that may very seriously impact public health.
In this trying moment, Kerala’s effort still is community cooperation and the observance of health guideline compliance. The state shall ensure it has whatever it takes in terms of resource provision and deployment to manage impacts from Mpox.
This will take the face of prioritizing the public’s safety. The amalgamation of healthcare officials at the state level, hospitals, and the public will be the greatest input in this emerging health challenge.
First Mpox case in India in 2024
Mpox is a viral disease caused by the Orthopoxvirus genus, whose classification falls into two clades: that is, clade 1 containing subclades 1a and 1b and clade 2 containing subclades IIa and IIb.
This led to an immediate center advisory to all states and union territories regarding measures to be taken in order to prevent further spread of Mpox across the country of India.
In the third week of August, the World Health Organization announced that it viewed Mpox as a public health emergency of international concern and spoke in terms of wide global significance.
It is transmitted through close contact with an infected person or via materials infected with the virus, such as clothes or bed linens. Some of the symptoms of Mpox include fever, rash, skin lesions, muscle aches among others.
Health authorities have called on people to be on the lookout and to report immediately at the slightest suspicion of any case.
As the situation unfolds, public health officials work hard to monitor situations and control the spread of the virus-ensuring at all times the population is safe and healthy.
Increased awareness and education would be integral to controlling Mpox and mitigating its effects.
This came after Mpox infections on Thursday when the Union Health Ministry issued an advisory to all states and union territories strictly to follow measures against the virus. It is part of a broader strategy to ensure management and mitigation of the spread of Mpox across the country.
The advisory sets high alert in identifying the clinical presentation of Mpox.It emphasized that the adult symptomatology of clade I Mpox is almost indistinguishable from that of clade II, yet it still warns of complications likely to emerge from clade I, and these might be greater and possibly very intense in terms of monitoring and management.
Dated September 26, the advisory calls for isolation of any suspected Mpox case from further transmission. It also calls for strict infection prevention and control measures in healthcare settings and communities.
Key public health measures are needed to check the spread of the mpox across the country, said Health Secretary Apurva Chandra. The efforts need to be convergent at both the state and local levels to run an efficient response process.
The Health Department is also actively attempting to ensure the states get necessary assistance for dealing with this emerging health threat.
With the advisory, the department has also issued specific guidelines on clinical management and infection prevention practices that would provide health care providers with the knowledge and tools needed for safe and effective handling of Mpox.
In addition, a risk communication approach has been outlined to ensure that right information about the virus and its modes of transmission is carried to the public through proper mechanisms.
The advisory also includes a list of laboratories equipped to test for Mpox, to enable prompt and accurate diagnosis of suspected cases. Early detection is important in the management of virus infections; hence, timely detection, which impacts the course of treatment and control of potential outbreaks, will be enhanced.
The Union Health Ministry is then closely monitoring how things go about this situation and changing the response appropriately as required.
Public cooperation, along with strict observance of health guidelines, will help prevent further spread of the virus, keeping the communities of the country safer.
What is Mpox ( monkeypox )
Mpox, formerly known as the monkeypox virus, is a viral disease caused by a member of the orthopoxvirus family, usually attributed to the monkeypox virus.
It is usually spread from an infected person through direct contact, and its causes are, among others, severe rash, swollen lymph node, and fever. The diseases can affect one’s health seriously and may lead to scarring.
Mpox is transmitted primarily as person to person. Direct close contact with another person, through sexual activities, exposure to bodily fluids, skin lesions, and the internal mucosal surfaces of the mouth and the throat allows it.
Viral particles may be spread also through respiratory droplets, contaminated objects.
Mpox is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can transfer from animals to humans, within those areas where the virus is present in animals. It is primarily identified in tropical rainforests in central, eastern, and western Africa.
The virus has been known to be carried by small mammals like squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, and several monkey species in those regions.
Since May 2022, Mpox emerged as a global health threat where countries that were never in the record for proven documented transmission began to report cases.
In most countries, the present trend of Mpox is due to human-to-human infection rather than animal-to-human.
General public health authorities are generally alerted to monitor the situation more according to awareness and preventive activities in managing and controlling outbreaks.