On Friday, the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology analysed two monkeypox cases of travellers returning from the UAE. The analysis showed that two individuals were infected with monkeypox virus strain A.2, which is related to the lineage of hMPXV-1A clade 3. The ICMR-NIV study revealed that the complete genome sequences obtained from skin lesions of cases 1 and 2 showed a similarity of 99.91 and 99.96% with the MPXV_USA_2022_FL001 West Africa clade, respectively. The study also showed that the two cases were infected with the A.2 strain on phylogenetic analysis. 

The study revealed that in the first case, a 35-year-old male resident of the UAE developed low-grade fever and myalgia on July 5, 2022. On the next day, he developed multiple vesicular rashes in the oral cavity and lips, followed by a single lesion on the genital organ. The lesions were umbilicated with a size of 0.5 to 0.8 cm. In the second case, a 32-year-old male from Dubai, UAE, travelled to his hometown in Kerala on July 13, 2022, and tested positive for monkeypox. As per the study, the patient denied any sexual or physical contact with suspected or confirmed MPXV cases. 

Samples from both cases were collected from multiple sites, such as lesion fluid, lesion roof, etc., on the night of the post-onset of the infection. The samples were further referred to the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for emerging and re-emerging diseases, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune, India for the MPXV diagnosis.

(Source: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/pune-icmr-niv-reveals-monkeypox-virus-strain-a-2-in-two-uae-returned-travellers/94008362 )