Tag: Monkeypox

While India has not reported any monkeypox cases as of now, countries like the US, Australia, Canada, and Europe have reported the virus.

Anyone can be infected with monkeypox if they have close physical contact with someone else who is infected.

In the ‘Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease’ issued to States and Union Territories, the Health Ministry on Tuesday stressed on surveillance and rapid identification of new cases

The WHO European office is concerned that the recent lifting of pandemic restrictions on international travel and events could act as a catalyst for rapid transmission.

The guidelines have been issued as part of a proactive and risk-based approach for management of Monkeypox and to ensure advanced preparedness across the country.

Speaking to OTV, health expert Dr Neeraj Mishra said, “The WHO has raised its concern because cases of Monkeypox have been witnessed in the non-endemic African countries. The good news is that the virus has not changed its nature yet. It has similarities with smallpox and the smallpox vaccine is 85% effective against it.”

EU health chiefs have already acknowledged this threat and are considering a cull for all hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs owned by monkeypox patients.

Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease. The virus can spread through any kind of sustained skin-to-skin contact with an infected person who has a lesion.

Monkeypox is a self-limiting disease and symptoms may stay up to four weeks.

The CDC noted that the monkeypox virus transmission requires close contact with an infected person

EU authorities are set to publish a risk assessment, which will advise all member states to draw up an inoculation strategy to control the spread of the tropical virus, Daily Mail reported.

While the Covid pandemic is "most certainly not over. We face a formidable convergence of disease, drought, famine and war, fuelled by climate change, inequity and geopolitical rivalry", Ghebreyesus said.

The government has dispatched advisory to ICDC and ICMR to keep a close watch on the situation and send samples to NIV Pune only in cases where people are found displaying certain specific symptoms of the disease.

Health officials in Australia have confirmed a case in Victoria and another likely case in New South Wales (NSW).

According to a statement from the US' Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) the patient in Massachusetts had not recently travelled to countries where the disease occurs but had visited Canada.