India on Monday reported second confirmed case of Monkeypox in a man from Kerala's Kannur district.
The patient is a 31-year-old man who landed at the Mangalore airport in Karnataka from Dubai on July 13. He was admitted to a hospital after he exhibited Monkeypox symptoms. His samples were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune and they tested positive.
The Dakshina Kannada district, in which Mangalore falls, is undergoing special monitoring in view of the Monkeypox case, official sources said.
A 10-bed ward is kept reserved in the Government Wenlock Hospital as a precautionary measure in the district. All the passengers arriving from overseas are being subjected to medical tests.
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District surveillance officer Dr Jagadish said no cases of Monkeypox have been reported in Dakshina Kannada so far. Screening is being done at the airport as a precaution. He added that chances of fast spreading of the disease like Covid-19 is very less.
A report said that the patient reached Kannur in May and his contacts under observation.
Last week, Kerala had reported India's first case of monkeypox in a man who had returned from United Arab Emirates (UAE). The confirmation of the case led to the Union government to rush a high-level multi-disciplinary team to collaborate with the state health authorities in instituting public health measures.
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The first patient hailed from Kerala's Kollam district and arrived at the Thiruvananthapuram airport from the UAE on July 12 and all his close contacts have been identified, according to Kerala government.
On Sunday, it was reported that Kerala has set up monkeypox help desks at all airports in the state in the state in the wake of first confirmed infection.
Earlier, the Union government had directed the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to keep a close watch on the monkeypox situation in the country.
The Union health ministry had also directed airport and port health officers to be vigilant.
"They have been instructed that any sick passenger with a travel history to monkeypox-affected countries be isolated and samples sent to the BSL4 facility of the National Institute of Virology in Pune for an investigation," PTI quoted a source as saying at the time.
(With PTi inputs)
