Health Ministry issues an advisory to states, UTs on “Mpox”

Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra on Monday issued an advisory to states and union territories regarding the precautionary actions, symptoms and causes of WHO declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern “Mpox”.

The advisory said that India still hasn’t reported a single case of Mpox yet. Union Health Secretary in an issued advisory highlighted the key public health actions that are required to be undertaken to prevent or minimize risk of any case or death due to Mpox in the country.

The Union Health Secretary directed the states to widely disseminate the Ministry’s “Guidelines for Management of Monkeypox Disease” and take action on the updated CD-Alert (communicable disease alert) on Mpox issued by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The advisory also directed the states to review public health preparedness particularly at health facility level at the state and districts by senior officials. It also included identification of isolation facilities in hospitals for taking care of both suspect and confirmed cases.

According to the issued advisory, in the most cases, young males with a median age of 34 years are most affected from Mpox while the sexual mode of transmission is the most common mode of transmission reported globally followed by person-to- person non-sexual contact. Around half of cases with available information on their HIV status are reported to be in persons living with HIV.

As per the advisory, the common symptoms include rashes (including systemic or genital rash), followed by fever.

Earlier, a suspected case of Mpox was reported in Delhi in a man who recently returned to India from abroad, a Union Health Ministry release said on Sunday.

According to the release, the patient has been placed under isolation in a designated hospital and is currently stable.

The release further mentioned that the samples from the patient are being tested to confirm the presence of Mpox.

“The case is being managed in line with established protocols, and contact tracing is ongoing to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country,” the release stated.

The Ministry stated that the development aligns with the earlier risk assessment conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and there is no cause of any undue concern. It further asserted that the country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travel-related cases and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been a public health issue in parts of Africa for many years but resurfaced as a global concern in 2022.

Since January 1, 2022, Mpox cases have been reported to the WHO from 121 member states across all six WHO regions. The WHO Mpox report dated September 3, 2024, provides global data up to July 31, 2024. A total of 102,997 laboratory-confirmed cases and 186 probable cases, including 223 deaths, have been reported to the WHO.

In July 2024, 1,425 cases and six deaths were reported globally. More than half of these cases were from the African region (55%), followed by the American region (24%) and the European region (11%). The South-East Asia Region (SEAR) reported 1 per cent of the total cases.