Use of masks exclusively for doctors and caregivers of patients with Mpox

The World Health Organization (OMS) reiterated on Tuesday its recommendation that the use of masks be limited only to healthcare personnel caring for patients with MPOX, as well as to caregivers of said patients when they are outside the hospital environment.

An outbreak of a new mpox subvariant (clade Ib), an infectious disease formerly known as monkeypox, has been declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with cases reported in neighbouring countries and one in Europe.

Nurses and family members with patients with Mpox should protect themselves

In the DRC, 18,000 cases, including suspected cases, of this subvariant have been recorded, which spreads more easily than the variant that has been present in the country for decades (clade Ia) and the one that caused an epidemic outbreak that spread to several countries in 2022 (clade II).

This greater ease of transmission has raised alarm and concern about the risk of further spread, especially given that around 30% of cases in the DRC affect children under five years of age.

WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris stressed that infection occurs through very close, skin-to-skin contact, and that the risk of transmission through aerosols expelled by an infected person is limited, occurring only in situations of face-to-face contact with the sick person.

The organization is urging research centers to continue analyzing the genetic sequences of the virus to fully understand its mode of transmission.

(With information from EFE)

Caregivers must wear a mask when caring for patients with Mpox.

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