Guwahati: The first suspected monkeypox case in India has been detected in a five-year-old child in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.
The patient as per reports is a girl.
A sample from the girl has been collected for testing the monkeypox.
She had complained about itching and rashes on her body and so all precautions for her well-being as well as others have been taken by the medical officials.
The girl has no health issues apart from the reported itching or rashes.
Also Read: South Assam, Mizoram and Tripura to suffer acute food shortages if FCI’s sluggishness continues
She nor anyone in contact with her has any history of travelling abroad in the past month.
It may be mentioned that symptoms of monkeypox typically begin with a flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, followed by a rash on the face and body.
Monkeypox is a rare disease that is caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
The Orthopoxvirus genus also includes variola virus (which causes smallpox), vaccinia virus (used in the smallpox vaccine), and cowpox virus.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name ‘monkeypox.’
Also Read: Assam: Man trampled to death by jumbo in Nagaon
The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox.
Since then, monkeypox has been reported in people in several other central and western African countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone. The majority of infections are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.