GUWAHATI: India has reported its first case of another newly emerging Clade 1b strain of Mpox. The patient is a man from Malappuram in Kerala. He had returned to India from the United Arab Emirates. Officials said on Monday that the patient tested positive for the Clade 1b last week.
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Earlier this month, a 26-year-old man in Haryana's Hisar had tested positive for the West African Clade 2 strain, another variant of the virus.
India has reported at least 32 cases and one death of mpox since the infection was first detected in the country in 2022.
Clade 1b has grown concerns over the infection as it is a deadlier strain, which is being reported from parts of Congo and its neighbouring countries that had hitherto not recorded any infections. It has also become sexual contact transmitting, which had not previously been involved in Clade 1 infections.
Mpox formerly known as monkeypox, is an independent or self-limiting viral infection ascribed to mpox virus (MPXV). The most common symptoms of mpox are high-grade fever with headache, muscle ache, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes, in addition to pox-like rashes that last for two to three weeks. It is a self-limiting disease but causes death, particularly among children and other vulnerable people.
