22-year-old woman who travelled to Africa is Delhi’s 5th monkeypox case
The woman, unlike previous cases reported in the Capital with no clear travel history, had gone to Nigeria a month ago, doctors at the Delhi government hospital said.
Delhi reported its fifth monkeypox case on Saturday after a 22-year-old woman of African origin tested positive at Lok Nayak Hospital, taking the city’s infection tally to five.
The woman, unlike previous cases reported in the Capital with no clear travel history, had gone to Africa a month ago, doctors at the Delhi government hospital said.
The woman was admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital, the nodal hospital for monkeypox in the city, with high fever and rashes on the skin two days back, said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director at the hospital.
Her samples returned positive on Friday.
“The woman is a resident of south Delhi and had travelled to Africa a month back. Her condition is stable and our team of doctors is keeping a close watch on her symptoms,” Dr Kumar said.
Urging people not to panic, the Delhi government said all preparations have been made to handle any rise in cases.
“Beds and rooms for admission of suspected and confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reserved in three government and three private hospitals,” an official statement read.
“Guidelines for management of monkey pox (on disease transmission, surveillance and case definitions; diagnosis and case management; infection prevention and control; and personal protective equipment) have been shared with all government and private hospitals. District Surveillance Units (DSUs) are in place for surveillance, including contact tracing and follow up; and have been sensitised as per the government of India guidelines,” the statement added.
Currently, three other people are undergoing treatment for the infection at the hospital’s isolation facility, doctors said. All three patients — a 35-year-old man, a 31-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman — are Nigerian nationals but do not have a history of foreign travel.
Delhi’s first monkeypox patient, a 34-year-old resident of west Delhi, who tested positive for the infection on July 24, was discharged from the hospital 25 days after his first symptoms.
The national tally of monkeypox cases has risen to 10, with fivecases each in Kerala and Delhi.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared it a public health emergency on July 23, it is clinically less severe than smallpox.
The infection, unlike Covid-19, is not easily airborne and transmits through direct contact with bodily fluids or the lesions of an infected person. It can also be spread through indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linen.
Dr GC Khilnani, chairperson, PSRI Institute of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, and former professor head of the department of pulmonary medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said, “Several cases have been reported from Kerala and Delhi. Most of these patients did not have a travel history. This could be the tip of the iceberg as testing facilities are limited.”
“The silver lining is the low rate of transmission by respiratory secretions and fomites. Unlike Covid virus (RNA), which is notorious for mutations (variants), this virus is DNA virus and does not have that nuisance Therefore, case finding and isolation can do the trick of containing this potential menace,” he added.
