Bengaluru: An Ethiopian citizen, who was suspected to have Monkeypox at the Bengaluru airport, has been identified as a confirmed case of Chickenpox instead. According to Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar, the Ethiopian citizen had shown some symptoms of Monkeypox at Bengaluru airport, earlier this month and was subjected to tests.
"A middle-aged Ethiopian citizen who had come to Bengaluru earlier this month was subjected to Monkeypox test after he was suspected to have Monkeypox symptoms. His report has now confirmed that it is a case of chickenpox,” Sudhakar said in his tweet. The health minister further informed, “All symptomatic travellers arriving from the affected countries to Bengaluru/Mangaluru international airports are being screened, isolated and tested for fever, chills and sweats, lymph node swelling, headache, muscle ache, exhaustion, sore throat and cough, skin rashes.”
Also read: India's first Monkeypox patient cured and discharged from hospital
The man had visited India on July 4 for a kidney transplant at a private hospital. Monkeypox is a rare viral disease that occurs predominately in central and west Africa. Most of its infections last two to four weeks and result in swelling of the lymph nodes as well as widespread rash on the body. India has reported four cases of monkeypox so far, of which three cases are from Kerala while one is from Delhi. Following this, the central government is on an alert even as the count of infections in some other countries has risen.
