22-year-old Kerala man dies of suspected Monkeypox, Govt orders probe

Thiruvananthapuram: A 22-year-old youth who reached Palakkad district of Kerala from a middle eastern country died on Sunday, suspected to be India's first monkeypox death.

The state health department has asked the district health officials to create a route map of his trip ever since he had landed in his hometown.

Sources in the health department told IANS that they were waiting for the report from the virology lab at Alappuzha to confirm the disease. If found positive, the swab samples would be sent to National Virology Lab, Pune for further testing. The state health minister's office will announce the result of the lab test.

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The death of a man from Punnayur in Thrissur district of Kerala on Saturday could be the first case of a monkeypox casualty in India, the state's health minister, Veena George, told Business Standard.

The state government has constituted a high-level committee with members from the medical education department. "It has been asked to submit a detailed report as death due to monkeypox is unlikely," she added. 

The health department has also called upon those with whom he was in touch after his arrival in India from a middle eastern country to isolate and monitor them.

The sources said that the youth after reaching home on July 22 had played football along with his friends, and so all of them have been asked to go in isolation after the youth was detected with the disease.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about India's first case of monkeypox which has been reported in Kerala with the suspected case which was sent to NIV, Pune had turned positive.

The patient who had tested positive arrived from the UAE on July 12.

WHO has declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern.

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