The Dakshina Kannada district health department has sounded an alert after a man who travelled to Kerala via Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) was found to be infected with the monkeypox disease.
The 31-year-old man had arrived at Mangaluru from Dubai on July 13. He is now being treated at the government medical college at Pariyaram in Kannur district.
Health department sources said 35 people who had contact with him have been advised to remain isolated. The doctors have asked the airport officials and the passengers who had travelled with him to remain isolated and be under observation.
There were 191 passengers in the flight in which the youth had arrived. Of them, 15 passengers were from Dakshina Kannada, six from Udupi district and 13 from Kasaragod, besides the passenger from Kannur.
The passengers from Mangaluru have been traced and are being isolated. They have been asked to contact the department in case they develop symptoms, district surveillance officer Dr Jagadish said.
A separate isolation ward for the treatment of suspected monkeypox infected patients have been opened at the government Wenlock hospital here. Passengers arriving from foreign countries are being screened at the airport for temperature and rashes, he said.
A senior official in Bengaluru said the officials at district level have been apprised about the measures taken to check monkeypox cases.
The districts such as Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Mangaluru and Udupi have been asked to be on the high alert.
"Already, the central government's guidelines have arrived. Shortly, the state government will also release its own set of guidelines," an officer said requesting anonymity.
The officer was confident that monkeypox will not be another COVID-19 like pandemic and will affect only those in close contact with the infected person.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 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.
Monkeypox typically presents with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications.
It is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks.
