Health authorities in India have isolated in a designated hospital a young male patient as a suspect case of monkeypox infection, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.

The patient who had recently travelled from a country currently experiencing mpox transmission is stable and under clinical management in line with established protocols, the ministry said, but did not reveal the city or state where the suspect case emerged.

“Samples from the patient are being tested to confirm the presence of mpox,” the ministry said. Health authorities have initiated efforts to trace the contacts of the suspect case to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country.

The emergence of this case is consistent with an earlier risk assessment by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and “there is no cause for any undue concern”, the ministry added.

The World Health Organisation had last month declared mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern amid worries about a new strain of the mpox virus called Clade 1b that has caused over 15,600 cases, including 537 deaths, this year. Clade 1b has emerged this year in several African countries that had not previously
reported the infection.

Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions that can last two to four weeks and might be accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, fatigue, or swollen lymph nodes. Treatment involves providing clinical support to the patient until the immune system leads to recovery.

Mpox spreads from person to person mainly through close contact such as touching, kissing, sex and face-to-face proximity with an infected person, according to a WHO document on mpox.

People with multiple sexual partners are at higher risk of acquiring mpox. People can also contract mpox from contaminated objects such as clothing, linen, or needle injuries.

Mpox, a viral infection, was first identified in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970 and remained confined within Africa until 2022 when it spread to countries in Europe, North America, South America and Asia.

India’s NCDC had between July 2022 and March 2024 documented 30 cases of mpox in the country.

Ishwar Gilada, an infectious diseases specialist in Mumbai, said he agreed with the health ministry’s assessment that there is no cause for any concern and its decision not to reveal the place where the suspect case has emerged.

“I think this is an excellent decision — this will help avoid stigma, discrimination, and even hounding,” Gilada told The Telegraph. “Stigma can cause people to not come forward for testing and that could potentially drive mpox cases underground — we don’t want that.”

The enhanced risk of mpox in people with multiple sexual partners is a potential source of stigma and discrimination, Gilada said, citing instances in 2022 when he had encountered patients who hesitated to get themselves tested for the infection.

Another infectious disease specialist formerly with the Indian Council of Medical Research had also expressed concern in 2022 that patients may view the stigma linked to the possible disclosure of their sexual activities as “an even bigger threat” to them than the self-limiting infection.

“Quick diagnosis, isolation and meticulous contact tracing will suffice in averting spread,” Gilada said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research has designated 35 laboratories across the country for testing suspected mpox cases.