Vijayawada: Residents of Vijayawada city heaved a sigh of relief when the health authorities on Sunday clarified that there is no need to worry as the first suspected monkeypox case turned out to be negative.

Notably, the first case of monkeypox was reported in Kerala on July 15. The infected person, who returned from abroad, was hospitalised and he tested positive.

Andhra Pradesh's Commissioner for Medical, Health and Family Welfare J. Nivas said that the two-year- old girl, who was suspected to have contracted monkeypox, has routine skin rashes. There is no need to panic, he said, adding that the child has tested negative.

Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada created a scare but the health authorities clarified on Sunday that the child has tested negative for the disease.

The toddler, who had gone to Dubai with her family, was found to have skin rashes on her return. With the monkeypox scare around the world, the doctor referred the suspected child to the Old Government General Hospital in Vijayawada. The samples of the baby were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune but tested negative for monkeypox.

The family returned to Vijayawada on July 11. The parents took the child to paediatric clinic when she developed rashes. The paediatrician referred the case to the government hospital on suspicion that these could be symptoms of monkeypox.
The child had developed rashes on face. She was kept in isolation at Old Government General Hospital. As a precautionary measure, family members and close contacts of the child were also confined to home isolation.

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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.