Mpox in India: The Health Ministry on Thursday issued a fresh advisory to all the states and union territories to contain the spread of mpox. In a letter issued today, Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of Health highlighted that this is the second time such mpox disease associated with Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Previous mpox outbreak that started in 2022 was caused by Mpox virus Clade II. The 2024 PHEIC is related to mpox Clade I which is more virulent and transmissible than mpox clade II. This Clade has been found outside Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) only during the current outbreak. Outside Africa, one case each of mpox Clade Ib has been recently reported from Sweden and Thailand. India is thus the third non-African country to report a case of Clade Ib Mpox infection recently,” the Ministry notified.
The health ministry ordered the states to undertake appropriate activities to make communities aware about the disease, its mode of spread, need/importance of timely reporting and preventive measures.
In the letter, the Ministry also urged the states to review public preparedness particularly at health facility level at the State and District by senior officials.
“Identification of isolation facilities in hospitals for taking care of both suspect and confirmed cases, availability of required logistics and trained human resources in such facilities and augmentation plan,” it stated.
In the advisory, the Ministry also emphasised that all suspected mpox cases should be isolated and strict infection prevention and control measures should be put in place.
It is noteworthy that there is no treatment for mpox. The current disease management is to focus on symptomatic relief. The Ministry also stated that samples from skin lesions of any patient with suspected symptoms should be sent to the designated lab immediately. Additionally, positive samples should be sent to ICMR-NIV for genome sequencing to determine the clade.
Moreover, the Ministry informed in the advisory that robust diagnostic testing capability is already available; 36 labs supported by ICMR across the country and three commercial PCR kits validated by ICMR that are now approved by CDSCO.
“By implementing the above measures…we can safeguard the health and well-being of individuals and reduce the impact of mpox outbreak. The Ministry will continue to monitor the situation closely…,” it added.