Odisha sounds alert on monkeypox after Centre’s advisory
BHUBANESWAR: With emergence of monkeypox as a new concern globally, Odisha government on Saturday sounded an alert following an advisory from the Centre on the signs and symptoms of the viral disease that has been detected in 12 countries. Monkeypox is a virus initially transmitted to humans from animals with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.
The Health and Family Welfare department has asked districts to keep a tab on foreign returnees and travellers from affected countries. As directed by the Ministry of Health, sick passengers from affected countries will be isolated and their samples will be sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune for tests.Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra said the health officials in districts have been advised to remain in alertness as this is a highly transmissible disease.
“Since in affected countries patients have been reporting fever and pustules, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has directed to get the tests of patients with symptoms like fever and rashes done. There is no reason to panic. The government is fully alert,” he said. Monkeypox spreads differently from Covid-19. Clinically it resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980.
Symptoms of the self-limiting disease last from two to four weeks. It begins with a flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph nodes, followed by a rash on the face and body. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, which can spread asymptomatically, monkeypox does not usually go unnoticed when it infects a person because of the skin lesions it causes. Although there is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, the vaccines used to eradicate smallpox are up to 85 pc effective against the disease.As it transmits from one person to another by close contact with respiratory secretions, skin lesions, body fluids, droplets and contaminated materials like clothes, people have been advised to stay alert.