India's ninth case of monkeypox confirmed in Delhi

A 31-year-old woman has tested positive for monkeypox in Delhi. There is no information about her travel history.

India's ninth case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Delhi. A 31-year-old Nigerian woman tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.

She is the first woman in the country to test positive for monkeypox, which manifests itself with fever, skin lesions and swollen lymph nodes.

The woman has fever and skin lesions and is admitted to LNJP hospital, according to a PTI report. There is no information about her travelling abroad recently.

With rising cases of monkeypox in the country, the Union health ministry has released a list of dos and don'ts to avoid contracting the disease. It also underlined that anyone can catch the virus if they have had prolonged or repeated contact with an infected individual.

The ministry has advised isolating the infected person from others so that the disease does not spread, use of hand sanitisers, or washing hands with soap and water, covering mouth with masks and hands with disposable gloves when close to a patient, and using disinfectants to sanitise the environment around.

The 'Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease' issued by the Centre stated that any person of any age having a history of travel to affected countries within the last 21 days presenting with an unexplained acute rash and symptoms like swollen lymph nodes, fever, headaches, body aches and profound weakness is to be considered a 'suspected case'.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).