Another monkeypox case in Delhi as Nigerian man tests positive for virus; sixth confirmed infection in India

The 35-year-old who has tested positive for monkeypox disease has no recent history of foreign or local travel, news agency PTI reported.

International passengers being screened at the Chennai airport following detection of a monkeypox case in Kerala (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: A Nigerian man living in the national capital has tested positive for the monkeypox virus, taking the total number of confirmed infections in India to six, news agency PTI reported on Monday (August 1, 2022) citing official sources. The 35-year-old, who has no recent history of foreign or local travel, is the second person in Delhi to test positive for the monkeypox infection, PTI reported.

The Nigerian national is admitted to the Delhi government-run LNJP Hospital, the nodal hospital for treatment of the infection.

His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and the report which arrived Monday evening showed he was monkeypox positive.

Two suspected patients of monkeypox, who are of African origin, have also been admitted to the LNJP Hospital.

According to PTI, the monkeypox patient in the capital has blisters and fever for the last five days. 

Kerala man dies due to monkeypox, Asia's first death in current outbreak

India on Monday also confirmed its first death due to the monkeypox virus, a man in Kerala, in what is only the fourth known fatality from the disease in the current outbreak. Earlier last week, Spain had reported two monkeypox-related deaths and Brazil its first. The death in India is also the first in Asia. 

The 22-year-old Indian man died on Saturday, Kerala`s revenue minister told reporters, adding that the government had isolated 21 people who had come in contact with him.

"The person reached Kerala on July 21 but visited a hospital only on July 26 when he displayed fatigue and fever," Minister K Rajan said.

He stated that there was no reason to panic as none of the primary contacts were showing symptoms.

Kerala's health minister Veena George on Sunday said that the man's family told authorities the previous day that he had tested positive in the United Arab Emirates before returning to India.

Over 18,000 cases of monkeypox in 78 countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global health emergency on July 23. The WHO said late last month that 78 countries had reported more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox, the majority in Europe.

It says the monkeypox virus causes a disease with less severe symptoms than smallpox and occurs mainly in central and west Africa. The disease is transmitted from animals to humans.

Human-to-human transmission happens through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects.