India records first death due to monkeypox in Kerala

Samples of a 22-year-old man, who died in Kerala on July 30, have come out positive for monkeypox on Monday. It could be considered the first monkeypox death to be officially reported in the country.An official confirmation in this regard was still awaited. Among the four monkeypox cases reported in the country earlier, the first three were also in Kerala, that too among those who came down from UAE. The fourth one was in Delhi.

The Thrissur native who died on Saturday was earlier found to be tested positive for monkeypox in UAE on July 19. He travelled to Kerala on July 21 night allegedly by suppressing this information. Only after his death at a private hospital in Thrissur that his family members revealed to the hospital authorities that he was earlier tested positive for monkeypox in UAE.The samples taken from the person were tested at the National Institute of Virology's unit in Alappuzha and found positive for monkeypox. A confirmation test done at NIV Pune was also found positive for monkeypox.Health department sources said that delay in taking timely treatment could be the reason for monkeypox leading to death even as its fatality rate was very low. The person was said to be not showing any visible symptoms of monkeypox even after he came down to Kerala. Hence detailed studies to determine the variant were required.