Following the confirmation of Mpox cases in Sweden and Pakistan, an infectious disease expert is urging immediate health checks at major airports to prevent further spread.
Monkeypox: new insights
Mpox (formerly Monkeypox) (1✔ ✔Reliable source
About Mpox
) has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa CDC this week, after the latest outbreak spread to 13 countries in Africa, including four new countries. The latest outbreak due to the more virulent and deadly strain, Clade 1b, has also spread to Sweden. The WHO has warned of more cases in Europe. Pakistan has reported 3 cases, but the strain causing the disease is still unknown. “Mpox is being taken seriously as an international and not purely regional concern. It would be prudent at this point for India to screen at the airport entry for symptoms and isolate those who might be infected. We should especially screen travellers from countries that have reported Mpox cases in the recent outbreak,” Dr Gautam Menon, Dean of Research and Professor of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University, told IANS.
It is also important to track infected travellers who may report their infection later so that their contacts can be informed and tested. “Indian medical agencies need to ensure that they are at the forefront of what is known about the epidemiology of Mpox, whether it can be carried asymptomatically, what are the modes of transmission, etc,” Menon added. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has been conducting a serosurvey since last year to understand the risk of contracting Mpox among people, especially those at high risk such as HIV patients, in the country.
On Friday, Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine ordered health officials at airports and ports to be on high alert, particularly in relation to passengers arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African countries. Other countries have also stepped up efforts to trace and curb the spread. China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) has announced stricter surveillance measures at ports of entry to prevent the importation of the Mpox virus into the country.
Czech Republic urges travelers to get vaccinated with Mpox
The Czech Ministry of Health and the State Institute of Health (SZU) have issued a statement recommending that citizens travelling to areas where the disease has been detected get vaccinated and take preventive measures against Mpox. According to SZU data, 11 cases have been recorded in the country this year.
Health authorities from Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) Department of Health have urged the community to be alert for symptoms of mpox. There have been 93 reports of mpox in NSW since the beginning of June.
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“So far, we understand that transmission between people requires intimate contact, so it would be more difficult to have a situation in which the number of infected people could grow explosively and exponentially,” the expert added.
“Children seem to be the most affected by this outbreak, especially those living in crowded and unsanitary conditions, such as in refugee camps,” he added. Menon noted that so far the infectious disease “seems to be more difficult to transmit between people compared to Covid-19 or influenza,” he told IANS, adding, “This implies that we may need to worry about localized outbreaks, but perhaps not a full-blown epidemic situation.”
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“But our understanding is still evolving and it is crucial that we report transparently and collaborate with international partners to stay at the forefront of what is known,” he advised.
Reference:
- About Mpox – (https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/about/index.html)
Source-IANS
