Lagatar24 desk
New Delhi, July 30: India’s first monkeypox patient, a Kerala Man, has recovered from the virus. The 35-year-old native of Kollam will be discharged from the Government Medical College on Saturday.
The patient had tested positive after he arrived from the UAE. He reached Trivandrum airport on July 12 and was then hospitalised with monkeypox symptoms on July 14.
“All samples were negative twice. The patient is physically and mentally healthy. The skin bumps are completely cured. He will be discharged today,” Kerala Health Minister Veena George said.
Meanwhile, the health condition of the other two persons, who had also tested positive for the infection, remains satisfactory.
Earlier, the Kerala government has stepped up prevention and surveillance measures after the state reported India’s first three monkeypox cases.
According to WHO, 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. With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.
