The Union health ministry advised international passengers on Tuesday to refrain from eating or preparing meat from wild game (bushmeat) or using products such as creams, lotions and powders derived from wild animals in Africa, besides avoiding close contacts with sick people, including those with skin lesions or genital lesions.

The "Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease" issued to the states and Union territories include an annexure -- advisory for international passengers -- which recommends that these passengers should avoid contact with dead or live wild animals such as small mammals, including rodents (rats, squirrels) and non-human primates (monkeys, apes).