India made headlines on Monday when it confirmed its first mpox case from the fast-spreading clade 1b strain in Kerala.
This marks South Asia’s introduction to this dangerous variant, which, unsurprisingly, raises more eyebrows than alarms. Health Ministry spokesperson Manisha Verma didn’t waste time confirming the news after official sources told ANI that last week’s case in Kerala’s Malappuram district belonged to this new strain.
The unlucky patient is a 38-year-old man who flew in from the UAE. Now, instead of enjoying a quiet trip home, he’s stuck in a government hospital bed, providing everyone with more than just his company. Kerala authorities confirmed his hospitalisation last week, with the government medical college in Malappuram taking the lead in his care. It gets better: 29 of his friends and family members, along with 37 fellow passengers, are now being monitored. As of now, none of them are showing symptoms, but you can bet they’re not sleeping easy. Malappuram district’s nodal officer, Dr. Shubin C, reassured Reuters that they’re all under watch, but seriously, how long before someone sneezes?
Naturally, the office of Kerala’s health minister didn’t respond to Reporters requests for more details, probably caught up in their own health advisory meetings, or better yet, trying to figure out what to say next.
India, home to more than a billion people, had somehow dodged this new clade 1b bullet, until now. Federal authorities were already on high alert, issuing advisories left and right this month, urging all states to brace themselves. But, of course, caution is only as good as the preparedness that follows, which is questionable. After all, it was only a matter of time before this new mpox variant, originally identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spread across borders. The World Health Organization didn’t hold back either, slapping a global health emergency label on this outbreak as soon as things began spiralling.
So far, India has reported around 30 mpox cases and one death, thanks to the older clade 2 strain, since 2022. This new clade 1b? That’s a different story. And for those keeping track, another clade 2 case popped up just this month. It’s almost as if the virus is playing a game of “which clade will it be today?”
Meanwhile, Congo is dealing with both the clade 1 endemic strain and the shiny new clade 1b. “Clade” is just a fancy way to refer to a version of the virus, but it does little to make people feel better about it.
