Monkeypox Outbreak: India Is Prepared, No Cases In The Country Yet, Says ICMR

India is keeping a close watch on developments related to the disease

On Friday, The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) official said that India is prepared because of increasing infections in the non-endemic countries. 

According to the information given by ICMR officials also added that no cases have been reported in the country so far.

Dr. Aparna Mukherjee, Scientist C, ICMR in an interview with news agency ANI said, "India is prepared for the infections as it is rapidly spreading in non-endemic countries like Europe, USA, and others. However, no cases have been reported in India so far."

Dr. Aparna Mukherjee also emphasised keeping a close watch on unusual symptoms, especially those who have a travel history from the monkeypox-infected countries. "We should observe the unusual symptoms like high fever, a lot of lymphadenopathies, large lymph nodes, body ache, rashes, etc, especially those who have travel history from infected countries," Dr. Mukherjee said.

Further, she said, People who witness the symptoms can get tested, either from the fluid that comes out of those lesions or the respiratory samples and, like the National Institute of virology has the setting for testing these viruses," she added.

On the other hand, the World Health Organisation yesterday informed us that more than 200 confirmed or suspected cases of Monkeypox have been reported from 20 countries. A senior official from the global health body feared there will be a community spread of Monkeypox, Reuters reported.

A medical devices company on Friday announced to have developed a real-time RT-PCR-based kit for the detection of Monkeypox (Orthopoxvirus) virus. "The Research and Development team of Trivitron Healthcare has developed an RT-PCR based kit for the detection of Monkeypox virus.

Trivitron`s Monkeypox Real-Time PCR Kit is four colour fluorescence-based kit, which can differentiate between Smallpox and Monkeypox in a one-tube single reaction format, with a total turnaround time of 1 hour," said a statement by the company.