SEE / Yonaski Moreno
The Ministry of Popular Power for Health (MPPS) confirmed the detection of the first case of a person carrying monkeypox in the country. Popularly known as monkeypox, it is a viral zoonosis caused by monkeypox belonging to the genus Orthopoxvirusof the family Poxviridae.
through the Epidemiological Surveillance Protocol for Monkeypoxthe MPPS exposed a series of measures for the prevention of monkeypox. He points out that, although it is generally a mild and self-limited disease, public health measures should place special emphasis on protecting susceptible people at risk of severe monkeypox (immunosuppressed people, pregnant women).
The protocol specifies that in non-hospitalized cases, the affected person must comply with isolation, which includes avoiding their presence in nurseries, schools, work, medical consultations, health centers and other public places, from when the rash appears until all lesions have disappeared. In hospitalized patients, contact and respiratory isolation should be adhered to until all lesions have scabbed over.
It adds, “Signs and symptoms include headache, fever, chills, sore throat, malaise, fatigue, maculopapular skin lesions, and lymphadenopathy.” The incubation period (interval between infection and onset of symptoms) for monkeypox is usually six (6) to 16 days, but can range from five (5) to 21 days.
In addition, it is necessary to disinfection of the patient’s objects and clotheswith the possibility of having been contaminated with nasopharyngeal secretions and/or skin lesions.
Also Close contacts of the affected person should be informed of their condition within 24 hours of identification. These contacts must be followed up every 24 hours to detect the appearance of signs and symptoms (it will extend for 21 days from the last contact with a patient in the infectious period).
If the contact develops a rash, they should be isolated and evaluated as a suspected case, and a sample should be collected for laboratory analysis to detect monkeypox.
According to the document made by the general direction of Epidemiology of the Health office, This virus is transmitted to people by various wild animals, such as rodents and primates, but has limited secondary spread through person-to-person transmission.
Infection can occur through direct contact with vesicular fluid from skin lesions in a case of monkeypox, or with respiratory secretions (when speaking, coughing, sneezing), or indirectly, from contact with recently contaminated clothing or objects. by respiratory secretions or vesicular fluid from monkeypox skin lesions, the document states.
Active surveillance of monkeypox cases
Suspicious cases must be immediately notified to the Epidemiology directorates so that appropriate actions can be implemented. To facilitate surveillance actions, the World Health Organization, cited by the MPPS, proposes the following provisional case definition for non-endemic countries: suspected, probable and confirmed cases.
Suspected cases include people of any age with an unexplained acute exanthema (rash), for which any usual cause has been ruled out (such as chickenpox, measles, Zika, dengue, herpes, bacterial skin infections, among others) and that there is one or more of the following signs or symptoms, since March 15, 2022: Headache, sudden onset of fever (>38.5oC), myalgia, back pain, asthenia and lymphadenopathy.
The WHO includes in probable cases, people who meet the definition of a suspected case and who also have an epidemiological link (close exposure without respiratory protection; direct physical contact, including sexual contact; or contact with contaminated materials, such as clothing). or bedding) with a confirmed or probable case of monkeypox within 21 days prior to the onset of symptoms; or who have a history of travel to a country endemic for monkeypox.
Meanwhile, confirmed cases include people who meet the definition of a suspected or probable case and have been laboratory confirmed for monkeypox virus through molecular testing (real-time PCR), or others such as sequencing (if They’re available).
The document highlights that there are no specific treatments or vaccines once morest infection by the monkeypox virus, although outbreaks can be controlled.
