The samples of a five-year-old child in Ghaziabad have been sent for monkeypox testing as a precautionary measure, health officials said. According to Ghaziabad CMO, she had developed 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 1 month,” CMO told ANI on Saturday.
The family has been asked to isolate the child till the samples give conclusive results, the Indian Express reported.
Amid increasing cases of monkeypox being reported in non-endemic countries, the government had recently issued guidelines directing district surveillance units to consider even one such case as an outbreak and initiating a detailed investigation through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme. In the 'Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease' issued to states and union territories, the health ministry stressed on surveillance and rapid identification of new cases. It stated that India needs to be prepared in view of the increasing reports of cases in non-endemic countries even as no case of monkeypox virus has been reported in the country till date.
According to the guidelines, a person of any age having a history of travel to the affected countries within the last 21 days presenting with an unexplained acute rash and symptoms like swollen lymph nodes, fever, headaches, body aches and profound weakness is to be considered to be a 'suspected case'
