These Latin American countries announce protection measures against mpox

Protection against mpox! Several Latin American countries, including Venezuela, have implemented surveillance measures after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox, or mpox, a global public health emergency.

Venezuela

The Ministry of People’s Power for Health announced on Monday that it will intensify sanitary measures and epidemiological surveillance in ports and airports. Through a statement, it was detailed that exhaustive monitoring will be carried out on travelers from countries with confirmed outbreaks, with the aim of early detection of any suspected case.

Argentina

Argentina, for its part, requested on Friday that border controls be reinforced to alert against possible suspected cases of monkeypox. According to a statement issued on Thursday by the Ministry of Health, the southern country has registered five confirmed cases out of a total of 39 reported. None corresponds to the new variant that has caused alarm. To date, no deaths have been reported.

Colombia

Colombia’s Health Ministry said Friday it will strengthen its risk communication strategy and increase public health surveillance in response to the WHO warning.

Health Minister Guillermo Jaramillo said in a post on X that the clade I variant is not found in the country, but coordination is being held with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for the possible availability of vaccines.

Virus mpox.

What is clade I?

Monkeypox is characterized by two genetic clades, I and II. A clade is a grouping of viruses that has evolved over decades and exhibits distinctive genetic and clinical differences. Clade II was responsible for a global outbreak declared a health emergency from July 2022 to May 2023.

However, the new outbreak is driven by clade I, which causes more severe disease. The clade Ib subtype, responsible for most of the current spread, is relatively new.

With information from CNN