Baby girl tests negative for monkeypox in AP

Amaravati: A two-year-old girl was suspected to have contracted monkeypox in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh but a blood test at the National Institute of Virology in Pune confirmed it to be negative.

State Director of Health J Nivas said the two-year-old child returned to Vijayawada from Dubai and found to have developed blisters on hands.

She was admitted to the Government General Hospital and kept in isolation as a precaution, along with her family members on Sunday.

“We sent the baby’s blood sample by flight to NIV-Pune for analysis and it turned negative for monkeypox,” Nivas said in a release. The baby’s family did not come into contact with anyone else, he added.

“There are no cases of monkeypox in AP. There is nothing to worry,” Nivas said.

The country reported its first case of monkeypox on July 14 with a Keralite who returned from the UAE testing positive for the virus.

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.