Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 15: Ministry of health and family welfare issued guidelines on managing the monkeypox disease on Friday. This comes after Kerala’s Kollam on Thursday reported the country’s first confirmed case of monkeypox.
The recommendations cover information on the disease’s epidemiology, definitions of contacts and cases, clinical characteristics and consequences, diagnosis, case treatment, risk communication, and advice on infection prevention and control (IPC).
The primary public health interventions for outbreak control identified in the guidelines include surveillance and quick detection of new patients. For a period of 21 days (as per case definition) following the final contact with a patient or their contaminated materials during the infectious period, contacts are to be examined at least daily for the emergence of signs or symptoms, according to the guidelines.
The key measures that can be taken to prevent infection with the monkeypox virus:
- Avoid contact with any materials, such as bedding, that have been in contact with a sick person.
- Isolate infected patients from others.
- Practice good hand hygiene after contact with infected animals or humans. For example, washing your hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Use appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for patients.
The health ministry has provided a set of management principles provided by ICMR-NIV Pune for use in treatment.
According to the recommendations, infected patients should be maintained in isolation with steps taken to reduce exposure to nearby residents. This entails covering any exposed skin lesions on the patient with a sheet or gown and, if the patient tolerates it, placing a surgical mask over the patient’s mouth and nose.
According to the guidelines, a case is determined to have the monkeypox virus when certain viral DNA sequences are found by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or sequencing.
All clinical samples must be delivered to the ICMR-top NIV’s laboratory in Pune via the district/Integrated state’s Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network.
A person of any age who has been to one of the afflicted countries in the past 21 days and who exhibits an unexplained acute rash as well as one or more of the signs or symptoms listed below, including swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, body aches, and extreme weakness.
