The Health Ministry is developing comprehensive recommendations for the treatment and prevention of monkeypox in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The ministry recently issued an interim advisory to all states and union territories, saying that people who “present with an otherwise unexplained rash and have travelled, in the last 21 days, to a country that has recently had confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox or report contact with a person or people with confirmed or suspected monkeypox” should be treated with caution.

The rash normally appears one to three days after the commencement of the fever, according to the World Health Organization. Lesions can be flat or slightly elevated, filled with clear or yellowish fluid, crusted, dried up, and eventually fall off.

In the event of suspicion, the recommendation recommends sending laboratory samples such as vesicular fluid, blood, sputum, and other samples to the NIV in Pune for monkeypox testing. If a positive case is found, contact tracing must be started right once to identify the patient’s contacts during the previous 21 days, according to the advice.