Delhi sees 4th monkeypox case as Nigerian woman tests positive, India count at 9

Delhi on Wednesday reported its fourth monkeypox case as a Nigerian citizen tested positive for the disease. The patient is a 31-year-old woman. The total number of monkeypox infections in India is now at nine.

A day ago, a 31-year-old Nigerian man was admitted to Delhi’s Lok Nayak hospital after testing positive. On Monday, another Nigerian national was found to be infected with the zoonotic disease in the capital. Both the patients did not have a travel history.

With a rise in monkeypox cases in Delhi, the government has identified three private hospitals where isolation wards will be created for confirmed and suspected cases. The three hospitals – MD City Hospital, Batra Hospital and Kailash Deepak Hospital – will reserve 10 beds each (five for confirmed and five for suspected cases) to manage the isolation of monkeypox cases.

Meanwhile, the National Centre for Disease Control in Delhi has started testing samples for detecting Monkeypox as ICMR-NIV is sharing reagents with NCDC and with a network of 15 laboratories spread across the country.

The first case of monkeypox, a rare but potentially serious viral illness, was reported from Kerala’s Kollam district on July 14 and the patient was discharged from the hospital last week. All five monkeypox patients in Kerala had a travel history of the UAE, news agency ANI reported.

According to the World Health Organisation, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals), with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.