NEW DELHI: An analysis of India’s first two monkeypox cases by an institute of the Indian Council of Medical Research revealed that the duo who returned from the UAE were infected with the virus strain A.2 – different from the one causing the outbreak in Europe.
The A.2 strain, which was detected in the US last year, has not been linked to major clusters. The current outbreak is being driven by the B.1 strain of monkeypox virus, Dr Pragya Yadav, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and lead author of the study, said.
The findings of the study have been published in the Research Square, a pre-print server, and have not been peer reviewed. India has reported nine cases of monkeypox and one death so far.
The foreign returnees from the United Arab Emirates presented with fever, myalgia, and vesicular lesions on the genital area with cervical lymphadenopathy. The oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swab, EDTA blood, serum, urine, lesion samples from multiple sites were collected on the ninth post onset day of illness. The clinical specimens of both the cases were tested with real-time PCR for orthopoxvirus, monkeypox virus (MPXV).
The A.2 strain, which was detected in the US last year, has not been linked to major clusters. The current outbreak is being driven by the B.1 strain of monkeypox virus, Dr Pragya Yadav, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) and lead author of the study, said.
The findings of the study have been published in the Research Square, a pre-print server, and have not been peer reviewed. India has reported nine cases of monkeypox and one death so far.
The foreign returnees from the United Arab Emirates presented with fever, myalgia, and vesicular lesions on the genital area with cervical lymphadenopathy. The oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swab, EDTA blood, serum, urine, lesion samples from multiple sites were collected on the ninth post onset day of illness. The clinical specimens of both the cases were tested with real-time PCR for orthopoxvirus, monkeypox virus (MPXV).