Monkeypox in India: Monkeypox case found in India is different from the variant spread in Europe, ICMR confirms

On the one hand, people are worried about Corona in the country, so now there is an atmosphere of panic among the people regarding monkeypox. Meanwhile, an analysis of India's first two monkeypox cases by an institute of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that both the people who returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were infected with the A.2 variant of the virus. 

A senior scientist at NIV and lead author of the study said that the A.2 variant is not associated with major clusters. The current infection is due to the B.1 variant of the monkeypox virus. The A.2 variant was detected in the US last year.

What did NIV said

People who returned from the UAE complained of fever, muscle pain and rashes. He also had a wound in his genitals. The analysis revealed that twomonkeypox virusSwaroop A.2, which belongs to the lineage of HMPXV-1A clade 3. The study conducted by NIV under ICMR said, "The complete genome sequencing obtained from the skin lesions of cases 1 and 2 showed 99.91 and 99.96 percent similarity, respectively, with the MPXVUS_2022FL001 West African clade. Both were infected with monkeypox virus variant A.2, which belongs to the lineage of HMPXV-1A clade 3 (West African clade).

WHO declares Monkeypox as emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 July declared monkeypox a public health emergency in many countries in view of the global outbreak in all six regions. The study also mentioned details of both the cases in which a 35-year-old male returned from the UAE and a 31-year-old male were found infected with monkeypox.

Regarding the first case history in the study, a 35-year-old male developed low-grade fever and muscle pain on July 5, 2022. The next day he started developing several rashes in his oral cavity and lips. He also had a wound on his genitals.