Amidst rising cases of monkeypox across the Country, the disease has entered the country with monkeypox cases detected in Delhi and Kerala, the State health department in Jharkhand has sounded an alert. The department has issued fresh guidelines with the prevention and control of the disease in the State. Arun Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Health Department said that the Health Department is fully alert for the monkeypox disease. The health department is closely monitoring this situation.
As per health department directives all civil surgeons and DSO IDSPs of the state have been instructed to increase surveillance regarding monkeypox. Advisory has already been sent to all the districts. If a person shows symptoms like fever, pain, body rash and rash along with travel history, then such suspected cases need active surveillance. Samples of suspected patients will be collected and will be sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for test of samples.
For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people.
IDSP's State Epidemiologist Dr Praveen Karna said that monkeypox is a disease similar to smallpox. It is an orthopoxvirus infection. Its duration is usually 7-14 days but it can be as long as 5-21 days. An infected person can spread the disease from 1-2 days before symptoms appear.
Dr. Karna said that the monkeypox person has symptoms like fever, rash/rash on the body and swollen lymph nodes. It is a self-limiting disease with symptoms usually lasting 2 to 4 weeks. Matters can be serious. The mortality rate can vary from 1-10. Monkeypox can spread from animals to humans and from humans to humans. The virus enters the body through broken skin (even if not visible), respiration, and through the eyes, nose or mouth.
It can be transmitted through direct contact with body fluids or wounds from animal bites or scratches, or indirect contact with wound materials, such as contaminated bedding, clothing, etc. In all suspected cases, the patient should be isolated with health facilities until the wound has healed and a new layer of skin has formed or until the treating physician decides to end the isolation.