India reports first case of mpox from fast-spreading clade Ib variety
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India had reported about 30 cases and one death from the older strain, known as clade II, between 2022 and March 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW DELHI - India said on Sept 23 that a mpox case involving a man in the southern state of Kerala was from the fast-spreading clade Ib variety, marking South Asia’s first recorded case from the new strain.
Health Ministry spokeswoman Manisha Verma confirmed the strain, after news agency ANI cited official sources as saying that the mpox case reported in the Malappuram district of Kerala last week belonged to clade I.
The patient is a 38-year-old man who had travelled from the United Arab Emirates and had been admitted to the government medical college hospital in the district, the Kerala authorities said last week.
About 29 friends and family members of the patient, along with 37 passengers on his flight, are being monitored at home, but none of them have shown any mpox symptoms so far, Malappuram district’s nodal officer, Dr Shubin C, told Reuters on Sept 23.
The state health department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for details of the case on Sept 23.
India, the world’s most populous nation, had so far not reported a mpox case from the new strain, but the federal authorities had issued an advisory in September to all states to remain vigilant and be prepared to address potential cases.
The caution followed a rapid spread that prompted the World Health Organisation to declare the outbreak a global health emergency
India had reported about 30 cases and one death from the older strain, known as clade II, between 2022 and March 2024, and one more clade II case earlier in September.
Two strains of mpox are now spreading in Congo – the endemic form of the virus, clade I, and the new clade Ib strain.
Mpox transmits through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but unlike previous global pandemics such as Covid-19, there is no evidence it spreads easily through the air.
It typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and is usually mild but can kill. REUTERS
