New Delhi: Gujarat on Thursday reported its first suspected case of monkeypox in a man with no recent travel history, said health department officials. According to a report by news agency PTI, his swab samples have been sent for testing.
According to the report, the 29-year-old patient, a resident of Nava Nagna village in Jamnagar district, has been admitted to a special ward created in the city-based GG Hospital, said Dr Nandini Desai, dean of the MP Shah Government Medical College attached with the hospital.
"Since he was exhibiting monkeypox symptoms, such as high fever, we have sent his samples for confirmation to a laboratory in Ahmedabad. The patient has been admitted to an isolation ward in the hospital," PTI quoted Desai as saying.
The doctor further said that the man does not have any recent travel history.
READ | Monkeypox In India: Centre Holds Meeting With Top Health Experts Amid Rising Cases
This comes just a day after a 31-year-old Nigerian woman in Delhi on Wednesday was found to be infected with monkeypox, the total number of people infected with the virus in the country to nine.
According to the Health Department of Delhi Government, preparations are being made to deal with monkeypox. Isolation rooms have been made in hospitals.
“The isolation rooms for the treatment of Monkeypox patients are operational in three major central government hospitals i.e Safdarjang hospital, RML hospital and Lady Hardinge hospital,” official sources told ANI on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday called for a meeting with top health experts to discuss the existing guidelines on the management of the disease amid rising number of cases.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
It is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting two to four weeks. The viral infection typically has symptoms such as fever, headache, rashes, sore throat, cough and swollen lymph nodes.