A person who returned from abroad has been admitted to a hospital in Kerala after he showed symptoms of monkeypox, the state Health Minister said here on July 14.

The minister said his samples have been collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology for testing. She said the disease could be confirmed only after getting the test results.

Without revealing more details, George said the person showed symptoms of monkeypox and he was in close contact with a monkeypox patient abroad. 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.

With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.