Monkeypox-like symptoms detected in 5-year girl in India, sample sent for testing

NEW DELHI, June 4: Doctors at a private hospital in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have detected monkeypox-like symptoms in a five-year-old girl, officials said Saturday.

The health officials have not confirmed the case and said they had collected samples of the patient and sent them for testing at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

"Samples of a five-year-old girl were collected for testing for monkeypox, as a precautionary measure, as she had complaints of itching and rashes on her body. She has no other health issues and neither she nor any of her close contact travelled abroad in the past one month," the chief medical officer of Ghaziabad told the media.

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease that presents symptoms including fever, an extensive characteristic rash and usually swollen lymph nodes.

The five-year-old girl visited the hospital on Friday for the treatment of an ear infection when the doctor noticed monkeypox-like lesions over her body.

"I saw lesions over her body and they seemed similar to monkeypox. We immediately informed the health department and isolated the girl. The family told us that several children in the family have developed a similar infection and two of them have already recovered," a local newspaper quoted Dr B P Tyagi, a senior ENT specialist as having said.

So far no case of monkeypox has been found in India. On Tuesday the federal health ministry issued guidelines on the management of monkeypox disease.