Fifth case of monkeypox in Pakistan: Patient's condition stable, returned from Saudi Arabia; An RT-PCR kit was developed for monkeypox testing in India

One more case of MPox has been found in Pakistan. In this situation, the number of MPOX patients has increased to five. All five cases were found among people who had disembarked from international flights. It is not known which of the three is the variant. The passenger was screened at the Karachi airport, officials said on Saturday. Two suspected patients were seen there, of which a 51-year-old man was found to be infected with the virus. He has been admitted to the hospital. Currently, his condition is said to be stable. After a new case of monkeypox virus came to light in Pakistan, the government has become alert. Surveillance has been increased at all airports. At the same time, people have been asked not to worry about the spread of monkeypox. Last year, one patient died of monkeypox in Pakistan. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Mpox as a global public health emergency on August 14. This was the second time in two years that the disease was declared a health emergency. The new strain of this virus (Clad-1) is more infectious than the previous strain and has a higher mortality rate. RT-PCR kit developed for monkeypox testing in India Within 15 days of declaring monkeypox a public emergency, India developed an RT-PCR kit to test for this infection. The name of this kit is IMDX Monkeypox Detection RT-PCR Assay and it is manufactured by Siemens Healthineers. According to the company, test results will be available from this kit in just 40 minutes. This kit has been clinically validated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved the manufacture of this kit. The kit will provide faster results than conventional methods Hariharan Subramaniam, Managing Director, Siemens Healthcare Pvt Ltd said that the need for accurate and precise diagnosis has never been more important than today. This kit will give results in just 40 minutes, which is much faster than conventional methods that give results in 1-2 hours. With the help of this kit, the time taken to detect monkeypox will be reduced, which will also speed up the treatment. IMDX Monkeypox RTPCR Kit is manufactured under Indian statutory guidelines and as per global standards. Vadodara unit has capacity to manufacture 1 million kits a year Siemens Healthcare Pvt Ltd has said that the RT-PCR kits will be manufactured at the company's molecular diagnostics manufacturing unit in Vadodara. This unit has the capacity to manufacture 10 lakh kits in a year. The factory is ready to supply these RT-PCR kits. How does this RT-PCR kit work? The company said the RT-PCR kit is a molecular test that targets two distinct regions in the virus genome, which can detect both clade-1 and clade-2 variants. This test kit has the ability to completely detect different viral strains and give comprehensive results. In particular, this kit can work on any platform and easily fits into existing lab workflows with standard PCR setups. No new equipment is required for this. Utilizing the existing Covid testing infrastructure will increase its capacity. More than 17 thousand cases of mpox have been reported in Africa so far. According to the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), more than 17,000 suspected cases of Mpox have been reported on the African continent so far this year, while 517 deaths have been reported. There has been a 160% increase in cases this year compared to the same period last year. Mpox was first discovered in monkeys in 1958 Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958. Subsequently, two monkeys kept for research in Denmark developed smallpox-like symptoms. Its first case in humans was in 1970 in a 9-year-old child in the Congo. Usually the disease is spread by rodents ie rats, squirrels and male monkeys. The disease also spreads from person to person. Its symptoms are similar to smallpox. This causes blisters or blisters to appear on the body. These can be small granular or large. These blisters or blisters become filled with pus. This gradually dries up and heals. Fever, rigors and excruciating pain occur during this period. In 2022, the World Health Organization decided that the name monkeypox was a stigma for monkeys. Apart from monkeys, this virus also comes from other animals. Hence its name was changed to MPOX. It is now called MPOX all over the world. The effects of the virus are seen within 7 days of exposure to an infected person. Whenever a person comes in contact with a monkeypox patient, the virus enters the body of a healthy person. This virus starts to affect in 3 to 7 days. People with Mpox are contagious. They can spread it to other people until all the lesions are healed and a new layer of skin is formed.

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