NEW DELHI: The national capital has reported its sixth case of Monkeypox in a 22-year-old woman of African origin, doctors said.
The woman was admitted to the isolation facility of Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) on August 31 where her symptoms are being treated.
Hospital's Medical Director Dr Suresh Kumar informed that the woman had no recent history of international travel.
"The woman had arrived in India in January this year and was staying in Dwarka since then. She visited the hospital a few days ago complaining of fever, sore throat and lesions on the skin. We suspected the symptoms were similar to monkeypox and sent the test samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for further investigation. The laboratory confirmed her with monkeypox infection," he said.
The woman's health condition is stable and is recovering from the infection, Kumar added. LNH chief also said the woman is the only case of monkeypox at the hospital. "All five other cases have been treated and discharged from our facility. The previous case was discharged last week in August," he added.
1:1 Male-female ratio among all cases
The doctors at LNH's isolation facility informed that in all six cases, three each identified as men and women. According to them, the equal ratio of patients from male and female gender busts the common notion that the disease is predominantly in homosexual men.
"It's a viral disease spread through close physical contact. There is no role of sexuality and gender found so far in the cases reported in India," said Dr Ritu Saxena, Chief Casualty Medical Officer of LNH.
The doctors also said that the age group of all the patients confirmed so far in Delhi ranged between 20 to 35 years. Kumar said that all the patients in Delhi suffered the mild form of infection and successfully recovered from it
According to the World Health Organisation, monkeypox is a viral zoonotic infection, which means it can spread from animals to humans. It can also spread from humans to other humans and from the environment to humans.
Delhi registered its first monkeypox case on July 24, a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern.