India confirmed on Monday, September 9, that it had a case of MPOX, but that person did not have the variant that prompted the WHO to trigger its highest level of global alert in mid-August, according to New Delhi. The world’s most populous country had announced on Sunday that it had isolated a case of “mpox suspected”.
On Monday, the Indian Health Ministry confirmed that the young patient had contracted MPOX but via the clade 2 variant of the virus and not via the clade 1 variant that prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to trigger its highest level of global alert on August 14.
“This case is an isolated case (…) and is not part of the current public health emergency (declared by the WHO) which concerns clade 1 of mpox”which emerged more recently than clade 2, the ministry added. No confirmed cases of MPOX caused by the new strain of the virus have been reported in India, a country of 1.4 billion people. “The individual, a young man who recently returned from a trip to a country where MPOX transmissions have been detected, is currently isolated in an isolation and care center” specific, according to the press release.
Ensure that the situation is under control
“Public health measures, including contact tracing and monitoring (of the patient), are being actively implemented to ensure that the situation” be brought under control, the ministry added. “There is no indication that there is a significant risk to the public at this time.”he assures.
The resurgence of MPOX in Africa, affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries on the continent (notably Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda), and the appearance of a new variant (1b) prompted the WHO to trigger its highest level of global health alert on August 14.
The WHO had already taken such a decision in 2022 when an epidemic of mpox, then carried by clade 2b, had spread across the world. The alert was lifted in May 2023. Today, clade 2b is still circulating, mainly in West Africa, but at a low level, without causing serious health problems. Cases of clade 1 have also been detected in Europe and Asia.
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