A 30-year-old Nigerian woman has tested positive for monkeypox in Delhi, making it the city's ninth and India's 14th case of the infection. The woman was admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital in the national capital with blisters and pus-filled lesions on genitals on September 16. Her test report came back on Sunday, reported news agency PTI.
Another suspected patient, also of Nigerian origin, was admitted to the state-run hospital on Sunday. His test reports are awaited.
On September 17, another 30-year-old Nigerian woman living in Delhi had tested positive for monkeypox.
In Delhi, the first case of monkeypox was reported on July 24. All those who earlier tested positive for the disease have recovered and have been discharged from the hospital, officials said.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals), with symptoms similar to those in smallpox patients, though the disease is clinically less severe than smallpox.
The World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency on July 23. The infection, unlike Covid-19, is not easily airborne and transmits through direct contact with bodily fluids or the lesions of the infected person. It can also be spread through indirect contact with lesion material, such as through contaminated clothing or linen.
As most of the Delhi cases do not have a travel history, experts studying the disease believe there could be a possibility of more cases within the community. “These monkeypox cases suggests the under diagnosed monkeypox infection in the community. This emphasizes the need for active surveillance of MPXV in high risk population such as men having sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW),” they said in a paper that was recently uploaded on Research Square, which is a free public preprint repository.
{{/usCountry}}As most of the Delhi cases do not have a travel history, experts studying the disease believe there could be a possibility of more cases within the community. “These monkeypox cases suggests the under diagnosed monkeypox infection in the community. This emphasizes the need for active surveillance of MPXV in high risk population such as men having sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW),” they said in a paper that was recently uploaded on Research Square, which is a free public preprint repository.
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