The minister said that the Kerala government is ready to deal with monkeypox. (file photo)
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Monday said there is nothing to be worried or worried about monkeypox as testing and surveillance has been intensified across the state and primary contacts of three infected persons in the state tested negative. Is.
The minister said that while the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global emergency due to its spread to around 68 countries across the world, the disease was not highly contagious and the government in Kerala was well equipped to deal with it.
However, people, especially those with a history of foreign travel, need to be vigilant and vigilant, he said and added that health professionals and workers in the state have been trained to identify and deal with cases of monkeypox.
He said that instructions have been issued to the health officials across the state to be vigilant.
Regarding the three persons who tested positive for the disease, the minister said that their health condition is stable and none of their primary contacts have tested positive for the infection so far.
A 35-year-old man, who came to Kerala from the UAE earlier this month, has tested positive for monkeypox, making him the third case of the virus from the country as well as the state.
The health department had said that the Malappuram native had come to the southern state on July 6 and had fever since July 13.
India reported the second confirmed case of monkeypox from Kerala’s Kannur district last week.
The patient, a native of Kannur in northern Kerala, had come to the southern state on July 13.
The first case of monkeypox, a rare but potentially serious viral disease, was reported in the state as well as the country from Kollam district in south Kerala on July 14.
Apart from three cases in Kerala, a 34-year-old man from Delhi, who has no foreign travel history, tested positive for monkeypox in the national capital, taking the country’s tally of cases to four on Sunday.
According to the WHO, monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (virus transmitted from animals to humans) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in patients with smallpox, although it is clinically less severe.
With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health. PTI HMP HDA HDA