A 22-year-old UAE returnee died on Saturday, but it was confirmed only on Monday that the death was due to Monkeypox.
Deceased sample were sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. (Creative Commons)
The demise of a 22-year-old from the Thrissur district of Kerala on Saturday, 30 July has been confirmed as the first Monkeypox death reported in India.
Health Minister Veena George told the reporters on Sunday that the deceased did not present with any rashes — a common symptom of Monkeypox infection — at the time of admission.
According to officials, the patient’s lesion swabs were sent for testing for monkeypox in the UAE before he took his flight home on 19 July. However, his family did not receive the test results until after his death.
The patient reached home in Thrissur on 21 July, and was admitted to a local hospital on 27 July as he started showing symptoms, said the officials
The sample swabs of the patient, sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, turned out to be positive for Monkeypox, but the result was confirmed only on Monday.
Around 15 people who had come in contact with the patient, including four friends who picked him up at the airport, family members, and healthcare workers who looked after him, have all been kept under observation.
George earlier said her ministry learnt that the man tested positive on 19 July for Monkeypox in Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE only after his death.
“This particular variant of Monkeypox is not highly virulent or contagious like Covid-19. Comparatively, the mortality rate of Monkeypox is low. Therefore, we will examine why the 22-year-old man died as he had no other illness or health problems,” she said.
“We will also inquire as to why there was a delay in sharing the test results from the UAE authorities,” George added.
She also said the health department had notified the district administration, and an inquiry was underway on why the patient reached the hospital in such a condition without early detection of Monkeypox.
The health minister further added that India’s first Monkeypox patient, a 35-year-old man from Kollam, was discharged from the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday after recovering from the disease.
According to state health department officials, there are currently two active cases of Monkeypox in Kerala, and both patients are in stable condition.
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