CHENNAI: With Kerala reporting monkeypox cases, TN has intensified surveillance at international airports. But there’s no targeted surveillance or hospital-based screening, doctors said. “People in the districts bordering Kerala are being screened, but all district headquarters hospitals and medical college hospitals have to start screening people for fever with pustules and skin lesions,” said a government doctor.
Director of Public Health Dr TS Selvavinayagam, however, told TNIE that routine surveillance is being conducted for several diseases — not just monkeypox and Covid-19 — through the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) portal of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).
The Union health ministry, in guidelines issued in May, stressed the need for hospital-based surveillance and testing at dermatology and STD clinics, among other places, besides targeted measles surveillance by the immunisation department. It also said targeted intervention is needed among men who have sex with men (MSM) and female sex workers (FSW) at sites identified by the National AIDS Control Organisation.
But a senior official in the TN AIDS Control Society said, “We haven’t received any communication from the health department regarding this. Perhaps it’s because no cases have been detected in Tamil Nadu.” People suspected to have monkeypox should be isolated because the disease is transmissible, former director of public health Dr K Kolandaswamy said.
Commenting on the lack of a monkeypox vaccine in India, noted virologist Dr T Jacob John said there’s no need for a vaccine as the disease mainly spreads through close physical contact. People vaccinated against smallpox would have some protection and others should take precautions, he said, adding that monkeypox is a self-limiting disease, and secondary infections should be prevented.
Smallpox vaccination was stopped in India in 1979.
The US Food and Drug Administration has licensed Bavarian Nordic’s JYNNEOS to be used as a vaccine against smallpox and monkeypox in the country. On Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.
Train passengers from Kerala to be screened
The government will soon screen train passengers arriving from Kerala, and instructions have already been given to screen people arriving from the neighbouring State by flight, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said on Sunday. As of now, people in 13 regions along the Kerala border are being screened for fever with lesions. Also, passengers arriving from 63 countries (where monkeypox cases have been reported) are being screened. The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has planned to conduct a high-level review meeting.
Monkey on the back
Here’s what you need to know about the new global contagion
Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting 2-4 weeks. Of late, the case fatality ratio has been 3-6%
The virus is transmitted from person to person by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated material such as bedding
Incubation period (time from infection to onset of symptoms) is usually 6-13 days, but can be 5-21 days
An antiviral agent developed to treat smallpox has been licensed to treat monkeypox
Monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a region where smallpox had been eliminated in 1968
Smallpox was eradicated in 1980, while monkeypox continues to occur in Central and West Africa
Vaccination against smallpox is about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox
Clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox. Monkeypox is less contagious and less severe
Monkeypox typically presents with fever, rashes and swollen lymp nodes; may lead to medical complications
In 2019, a newer two-dose monkeypox vaccine was approved, but availability is limited