Health Secretary Asks States To Take Preventive Measures Against Mpox Clade 1

(MENAFN- Live Mint) With India becoming the third non-African country to report a case of clade 1b Mpox, the Union health secretary Apurva Chandra has directed state governments to take preventive measures to minimize the risk of Mpox outbreak in the country.

He directed all states to spread awareness about the disease, its mode of spread, the need or importance of timely reporting, and preventive measures.

It is crucial that any panic amongst the masses is prevented, he said.

Also Read: How prepared is India for an Mpox outbreak?

“Samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms of Mpox should be sent to the designated labs immediately, and for those that test positive, a sample should be sent to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade,” Chandra said in a letter dated 26 September.

He informed that robust diagnostic testing capabilities are already available with 36 ICMR-supported labs across the country, and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved three ICMR-validated commercial PCR kits.

On Monday, India reported clade 1b strain in a 38-year-old man from Kerala, who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. The patient is currently stable and under observation.

Also Read: ICMR conducting serosurvey to assess mpox risk in Indi

Earlier this month, India's first Mpox case was reported in a 26-year-old man from Haryana who returned from one of the affected African nations. However, the Mpox strain was the one that was prevalent in the previous outbreak seen in India in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Union health secretary has advised states to review public health preparedness, identify isolation facilities in hospitals,
and train human resources, etc.

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