First suspected case of monkeypox in Gujarat; samples sent for testing

Gujarat has reported its first suspected case of monkeypox with a man with no recent travel history exhibiting symptoms of the viral disease, said health department officials on Thursday.

His swab samples have been sent for testing, they said. The 29-year-old patient, a resident of Nava Nagna village in Jamnagar district, is currently admitted to a special ward created in the city-based GG Hospital, said Dr Nandini Desai, dean of the MP Shah Government Medical College attached with the hospital. "Since he was exhibiting monkeypox symptoms, such as high fever, we have sent his samples for confirmation to a laboratory in Ahmedabad. The patient has been admitted to an isolation ward in the hospital," said Desai. She said the man does not have any recent travel history. Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. It is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting two to four weeks. The infection typically presents itself with fever, headache, rashes, sore throat, cough and swollen lymph nodes.