AFP, New Delhi

India yesterday reported that it had put a “suspected mpox case” into isolation, assuring that the world’s most populous nation had “robust measures” in place, the health ministry said in a statement.

There have been no confirmed cases of mpox in India, a country of 1.4 billion people.

“A young male patient, who recently travelled from a country currently experiencing mpox transmission, has been identified as a suspect case of mpox,” the health ministry said in a statement.

“The patient has been isolated in a designated hospital and is currently stable,” it said, adding the samples “are being tested to confirm the presence of mpox”.

It gave no further details of where he may have contracted it.

“There is no cause of any undue concern,” it added. “The country is fully prepared to deal with such (an) isolated travel related case and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk.”

Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in Denmark, in monkeys kept for research. It was first detected in humans in 1970. It is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

Mpox’s resurgence and the detection in the Democratic Republic of Congo of a new strain, dubbed Clade 1b, prompted the World Health Organization to declare its highest international alert level on August 14.