Following the detection of the first case of Monkeypox in India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday issued guidelines for the management of the disease.
As per the Ministry's guidelines, international passengers should avoid close contact with sick people, contact with dead or living wild animals and others.
The guidelines also advise the international travellers from eating or preparing meat from wild game (bushmeat) or using products (creams, lotions, powders) derived from wild animals from Africa.
“International passengers should also avoid contact with contaminated materials used by sick people such as clothing, bedding or materials used in healthcare settings, or that came into contact with infected animals,” said the Ministry's guidelines.
People who develop symptoms suggestive of Monkeypox like fever and skin rash and were in an area where the disease has been reported or had come in contact with a person who might have Monkeypox have been advised to immediately consult the nearest health facility.
The guidelines came a day after India reported first laboratory-confirmed case of Monkeypox in Kerala from Kollam district after which the Centre rushed a multi-disciplinary team of experts to collaborate with the State health authoritites in instituting public health measures.
India’s first Monkeypox case is also South East Asia’s first. The 35-year-old patient is a traveller from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who arrived in Trivandrum on July 12 and tested positive for the viral disease.
The central team to Kerala comprised experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi and senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare along with experts from the Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare, Kerala.
The Centre also wrote to all the states and union territories, reiterating some of the key actions that are required to contain the spread of the disease. In his letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked all the states and union territories to take key actions like orientation and regular re-orientation of all key stakeholders including health screening teams at points of entries (PoEs), disease surveillance teams, doctors working in hospitals about common signs and symptoms, differential diagnosis, case definitions for s for suspect/probable/confirmed cases and contacts, contact tracing and other surveillance activities that need to be undertaken following the detection of a case, testing, IPC protocols, clinical management etc.
“Patient isolation (until all lesions have resolved and scabs have completely fallen off), protection of ulcers, symptomatic and supportive therapies, continued monitoring and timely treatment of complications remain the key measures to prevent mortality,” the Health Secretary said.