The Central government has issued guidelines for monkeypox patients and their contacts, including 21-day isolation, wearing masks, practising hand hygiene, covering lesions completely, and waiting for them to heal completely. The national capital has confirmed one case of monkeypox, bringing the country’s total to four. According to sources, 14 contacts of Delhi’s first monkeypox patient have been identified so far, and none of them has shown symptoms. One of the contacts has complained of body aches, but he is fine now and has no symptoms.
Another suspected case has been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital in Delhi, and samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune. Officials, on the other hand, say there’s no need to panic. According to them, one must be isolated for 21 days after having contact with a monkeypox patient or their contaminated materials.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis that is transmitted to humans from animals, with symptoms similar to those seen in smallpox patients, albeit clinically less severe. Because of recent developments, the Centre has issued guidelines for monkeypox management. The Delhi government has directed its hospitals and 11 revenue districts to follow the guidelines.
According to the Centre’s guidelines, health workers who have unprotected exposure to monkeypox patients or potentially contaminated materials should not be excused from work if asymptomatic, but should be monitored for symptoms for 21 days. According to the guidelines, the infected person should wear a triple-ply mask while the skin lesions are covered to the greatest extent possible to reduce the risk of contact with others.
It was stated that patients should be isolated until all lesions had healed and scabs had completely fallen off. An official described the process of identifying a contact as someone who comes into contact with an infected person through face-to-face contact, direct physical contact, or comes into contact with contaminated materials such as clothing or bedding is identified as a primary contact.
‘Contacts are asked to self-monitor their symptoms and keep in touch with district surveillance teams. Contacts should ideally be isolated in separate rooms, but they can also stay in the same room. They should ideally wear masks and adhere to hand hygiene and social distancing standards ‘, a government official stated The official also stated that while under surveillance, asymptomatic contacts should not donate blood, cells, tissues, organs, or sperm. Monkeypox is characterised by fever, headache, rashes that can last up to three weeks, sore throat, cough, and swollen lymph nodes.
Lesions, which typically appear one to three days after the onset of fever, last two to four weeks and are often described as painful until the healing phase, when they become itchy. Multiple cases of monkeypox were identified in several non-endemic countries in May of this year. Over 16,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 75 countries worldwide, and five people have died as a result of the outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared monkeypox a global public health emergency of international concern.
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