NEW DELHI: The national capital on Sunday reported its sixth case of Monkeypox. The 24-year-old woman from Nigerian origin has been admitted to the isolation facility of Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH) and her treatment is underway. The patient came to the facility on September 7 with complaints of fever, sore throat, and blisters on her arms, face, and private parts.
“The patient was immediately isolated and her samples were sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune after which she tested positive for the infection,” said Dr Vineet Rehlan, nodal officer for handling monkeypox cases at the hospital.
No recent history of international travel has been found. The patient arrived in India four months ago to pursue higher education. She was residing in the Sharda Vihar area, doctors informed. With this case, a total of four women have been detected with the disease and three of them are men. Of all seven cases, six patients are of African descent, while one was a city local.
Currently, two patients are receiving treatment at the hospital’s isolation ward. The previous five cases have been discharged successfully, doctors said. Meanwhile, the authorities are in search of the close contacts of the patients. Rehlan said that the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) team of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was informed about the case after her test report arrived from Pune.
However, the officials said that tracing the source of infection and contacts of the patients is proving a daunting task given the language barrier and the reluctance they show in the investigation. Dharmendra Kumar, ADM, West District, said the patients often give wrong information.
“The fear of stigmatisation with the disease discourages the patients from cooperating with us. And with some, language barrier comes in the way. The patients are largely from African nations and their hold on English and Hindi is not that good,” he said.
“The fact that they are in a foreign nation dealing with a foreign authority, the fear of uncertainty bothers them even more,” Kumar added. Rehlan said that doctors try to provide counselling to such patients so that they come out of the fear of stigmatization.
“We are repeatedly trying, but the isolation situation is not providing us the opportunity to converse at length with the patients. A counsellor and a translator could help a lot in investigation,” Rehlan added.
Of all patients, two are in the isolation ward
With this case, a total of four women have been detected with the disease and three are men. Of all seven cases, six patients are of African descent, while one was a city local. Currently, two patients are getting treated at the isolation ward in Lok Nayak Hospital. The previous five cases have been discharged successfully, doctors said.