New Delhi: The first case of Monkeypox in India was detected in Kerala on Thursday in a person who returned from the United Arab Emirates. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, MoHFW, released a set of guidelines for the management of the viral disease. The ministry has suggested that people who have travelled abroad should avoid close contact with sick people “including those with skin lesions or genital lesions”.
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Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease with symptoms similar to smallpox but with less clinical severity. Earlier the outbreaks were limited to West and Central Africa but the recent outbreaks include non-endemic countries such as the US and several European countries like Spain, France and Italy.
The health ministry has listed out several guidelines for travellers. It has suggested that a person should contact a healthcare facility incase they develop any symptom of Monkeypox like fever with a rash if they have been around a person who may have Monkeypox or they have been in an area where Monkeypox has been reported.
It has been suggested that people should avoid eating bushmeat/wild game or use products which have come from Africa including cream, lotions etc. They should avoid clothing, bedding etc. of a person who may have been infected or that came into contact with infected animals.
Travellers should avoid coming in contact with dead or alive wild animals.
According to an ANI report, Holborn Wells India has developed a real-time PCR kit for the detection of the monkeypox virus. This kit can detect the virus with high sensitivity and produces results within 90 minutes.