Kerala man who returned from UAE died of monkeypox, report confirms

Mangalore Today News Network

Thrissur, Aug 01, 2022: Samples of a 22-year-old man, who died in Kerala on July 30, have come out positive for monkeypox on Monday, reports have confirmed. This is India’s first monkeypox related-death. The results of his samples, which were sent for testing in NIV Pune, turned out to be positive.

 

The government of India has now made a task force on Monkeypox in India to be headed by Dr VK Paul and Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan among other members.

"The deceased 22-year-old man from Thrissur had tested positive for monkeypox in the UAE, a day before he returned to India, Kerala health minister Veena George had said.

The man, who had reached India on July 21, was staying with his family and was admitted to a private hospital only on July 27.

His samples were taken in the UAE on July 19 and he returned to India on July 21 and was admitted to a hospital in Thrissur on July 27.

"The health department would examine the reasons behind the death of the man," Kerala Health Minister Veena George had said on Sunday.

According to the relatives of the deceased, they were informed on July 30 — the same day the patient died — that his samples taken in UAE had also tested positive, the sources told news agency PTI.

The patient was young, did not suffer from any other illness or health problems and therefore, the health department was looking into the cause of his death, she had said.

"We would also examine why there was a delay in his hospitalisation after he arrived from the UAE on July 21," the health minister had said.

"This particular variant of monkeypox is not as highly virulent or contagious as Covid-19, but it does spread. Comparatively, the mortality rate of this variant is low. Therefore, we will examine why the 22-year-old man died in this particular case as he had no other illness or health problems,"the minister had said.

According to the WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis — a virus transmitted to humans from animals — with symptoms similar to smallpox although clinically less severe.

Monkeypox typically manifests itself with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications. It is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting for two to four weeks.

Courtesy: India Today