Monkeypox Reaches India? 5-Year-Old From UP's Ghaziabad With Symptoms of Rashes, Itch Is India's First Suspect

India's first Monkeypox suspect was detected in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district. Read on to know what symptoms the suspect had.

A 5-year-old boy from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad has become the first suspect of the deadly Monkeypox virus in India. "Ghaziabad case is suspected and under observation, samples have been sent to ICMR NIV Pune," UP Deputy CM and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak told ANI. Urging people to not panic at the moment, the government officials said that as of now there are no cases of monkeypox virus in the country. "The sample of a suspected monkeypox case in Ghaziabad has been sent for testing, but it's unnecessary panic mongering. No monkeypox case has been reported in India so far," an official was quoted as saying.

The Child Has Symptoms Like...

According to the reports, the suspected child has symptoms associated with the monkeypox virus, "The girl complained of itching and rashes on her body. However, the testing part is just a precautionary measure. No one should panic right now," the Chief Medical Officer of Ghaziabad said.

"Lesions were on the body of the child who came for ear treatment. It looked pox type. We are not sure if it is monkeypox," ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist Dr BP Tyagi said. The officials further added that the child has been isolated and the health department is closely monitoring the case.

Monkeypox Virus: What We Know

Monkeypox is a rare virus disease which has been found related to but less severe than smallpox. Monkeypox is caused by the Monkeypox virus which belongs to the family of the viruses of smallpox. Some of the symptoms associated with this virus infection are - a rash that spreads, fever, chills, aches, acute dehydration, etc. The virus is not new but to date, it was only dominant in the regions of Southern and Central Africa.

On Tuesday the government of India released guidelines to stay protected against the deadly monkeypox virus which is spreading rapidly across the globe. According to the guidelines, a confirmed case is laboratory confirmed for Monkeypox virus by detection of unique sequences of viral DNA either by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or sequencing.

Taking cognizance of the situation, the monkeypox has been reported as an endemic in several other central and western African countries such as Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d`Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone.

(With inputs from Agencies)