Two Palamu, Garhwa residents test negative for monkeypox

Daltonganj/Garhwa: The two residents of Palamu and Garhwa districts, whose samples were were sent to an ICMR laboratory in Pune last week, have tested negative for monkeypox virus, orthopox virus, and varicella zooster virus, officials said on Tuesday.
“A 54-year-old female resident of Pathra village was segregated as a suspected case for monkeypox and her samples sent to The ICMR- National Institute of Virology, Pune. The test report was negative for monkeypox virus, orthopox virus and varicella zooster virus. It is a great relief but people must maintain Covid-19 appropriate behaviour,” Palamu civil surgeon Dr John F Kennedy said.
India has fewer cases of monkeypox as compared to a few nations, but one needs to be vigilant as Kerala has reported one confirmed death due to it recently. “There is no need to panic but nobody should be blind to the dangers that many countries are facing on account of the monkeypox virus,” he said, urging people to report to the nearest government health centre if afflicted with fever and rashes.
They had collected swabs of throat, nose, skin scrapping, ETDA blood, plain blood, and urine from the woman for the lab test. “Samples were sent by adhering to proper cold chain maintenance rules. These were received in Pune on August 1 and the report was mailed the same day.”
Garhwa civil surgeon Dr Kamlesh Kumar said, “We had collected samples of a seven-year-old girl, who developed monkeypox-like symptoms, and sent these to the lab in Pune for testing for monkeypox and Rims for chicken pox and measles. Both reports came negative. She was earlier shifted to an isolated ward at Garhwa sadar hospital and provided her with clinical management based on the advisory issue by the state health department.” Garhwa district epidemiologist Dr Santosh Kumar Mishra said, “The girl is doing fine and quite playful too.”