India, now the third non-African country to report a case of clade 1b Mpox, has stepped up its preventative measures to minimize the risk of a wider outbreak. The Union health secretary, Apurva Chandra, has issued directives to all state governments, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to curb the potential spread of the virus.
The directives include raising awareness about the disease, its transmission methods, the importance of timely reporting, and preventive measures. Chandra stressed the crucial need to avoid any panic among the public. “Samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately,” he stated in a letter dated September 26. “For those that test positive, a sample should be sent to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade.”
To bolster testing capabilities, India has 36 ICMR-supported labs across the country equipped for Mpox diagnosis. Furthermore, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved three ICMR-validated commercial PCR kits.
The latest case, reported on Monday, involved a 38-year-old man from Kerala who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. He is currently stable and under observation. This case marks the second instance of clade 1b Mpox in India, following an earlier case in a 26-year-old man from Haryana who had returned from an affected African nation.
The Union health secretary has also advised states to review their public health preparedness, identify isolation facilities in hospitals, and ensure adequate training for healthcare personnel.
On August 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the current Mpox outbreak, previously known as Monkeypox disease, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). This is the second time the WHO has declared Mpox PHEIC under the International Health Regulations, 2005, to which India is a signatory.
The latest PHEIC relates to the Mpox virus clade 1, a more virulent and transmissible strain than the clade 2 virus that caused the 2022 outbreak. Clade 1 cases have been reported outside Africa, including one each in Sweden and Thailand. While the clinical presentation of clade 1 in adults is similar to clade 2, the rate of complications may be higher with clade 1 infections.
