Ludhiana: AS World Health Organization (WHO) has declared monkeypox A global public health emergency of international concern, the district health department has asked hospitals to monitor suspected patients and report suspected cases, if any. The department has also issued an advisory to ground staff to monitor the returnees from high-risk countries.
Civil Surgeon Dr Hatinder Kaur said that she has received an advisory from the department to check for symptoms of monkeypox and the staff has been apprised of the same. It indicated that they would have to keep suspected persons (returnees) from specific countries under surveillance even if they were not tested for the disease. They usually do surveillance under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), the senior health official said.
IDSP’s Dr Ramanpreet said only suspected persons should be kept under observation if they were in contact with the cases or have symptoms. He said he has shared the advice with all government and private health facilities.
Asked whether they have facilities for testing monkeypox in Ludhiana, he said samples of suspected cases have to be taken National Institute of Virology in Pune for confirmation
Health department officials said that as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the management of monkeypox, a suspected case “is a person of any age who has a travel history to the affected countries within the last 21 days, an unexplained Presents with an acute rash and one or more of the following signs or symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, body aches, deep weakness. He added that the confirmed case is “a case that has been identified for monkeypox virus.” Laboratory confirms (by detection of unique sequences of viral DNA either by polymerase chain reaction)PCR) and/or indexing)”.
Health Department officials said that special surveillance is being done on suspected patients from European countries, United States of America (USA), Canada among others. He said that surveillance of suspected patients is being ensured at Amritsar and Mohali international airports in Punjab, where travelers from these countries come.
Experts advise caution.
“Though it’s not fatal in comparison” covid Viruses can spread. Therefore people should be careful and keep a distance from suspected patients. Residents are already aware of COVID and can take steps to prevent getting infected with monkeypox virus,” said Dr Sunil Katyal, Secretary, Punjab IMA.
Monkeypox is usually a self-limiting disease with symptoms lasting 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases are usually more common in children and are related to the extent of exposure to the virus, the patient’s health status, and the nature of complications. The extent to which asymptomatic infection occurs is unknown. The case fatality ratio of monkeypox in the general population has historically ranged from 0 to 11%, and has been higher in young children. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3-6%.
Civil Surgeon Dr Hatinder Kaur said that she has received an advisory from the department to check for symptoms of monkeypox and the staff has been apprised of the same. It indicated that they would have to keep suspected persons (returnees) from specific countries under surveillance even if they were not tested for the disease. They usually do surveillance under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), the senior health official said.
IDSP’s Dr Ramanpreet said only suspected persons should be kept under observation if they were in contact with the cases or have symptoms. He said he has shared the advice with all government and private health facilities.
Asked whether they have facilities for testing monkeypox in Ludhiana, he said samples of suspected cases have to be taken National Institute of Virology in Pune for confirmation
Health department officials said that as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the management of monkeypox, a suspected case “is a person of any age who has a travel history to the affected countries within the last 21 days, an unexplained Presents with an acute rash and one or more of the following signs or symptoms, including swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, body aches, deep weakness. He added that the confirmed case is “a case that has been identified for monkeypox virus.” Laboratory confirms (by detection of unique sequences of viral DNA either by polymerase chain reaction)PCR) and/or indexing)”.
Health Department officials said that special surveillance is being done on suspected patients from European countries, United States of America (USA), Canada among others. He said that surveillance of suspected patients is being ensured at Amritsar and Mohali international airports in Punjab, where travelers from these countries come.
Experts advise caution.
“Though it’s not fatal in comparison” covid Viruses can spread. Therefore people should be careful and keep a distance from suspected patients. Residents are already aware of COVID and can take steps to prevent getting infected with monkeypox virus,” said Dr Sunil Katyal, Secretary, Punjab IMA.
Monkeypox is usually a self-limiting disease with symptoms lasting 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases are usually more common in children and are related to the extent of exposure to the virus, the patient’s health status, and the nature of complications. The extent to which asymptomatic infection occurs is unknown. The case fatality ratio of monkeypox in the general population has historically ranged from 0 to 11%, and has been higher in young children. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3-6%.