Kerala Government Issues SOPs As Monkeypox Concerns Grow
- Lifestyle Health
Prasoon Soni- 0
- 5 minutes read
Monkeypox, a rare viral disease, has been raising concerns as there are two confirmed cases of the infection in India currently. Therefore, the Kerala Government has taken its first step in educating people about the various outcomes, treatments, and preventive measures of Monkeypox as it released a list of SOPs to follow. Veena George, the Health Minister of Kerala played a crucial role in doing so as she curated information from the major public and private hospitals on the disease to prevent further spread of it.
The Kerala Government Monkeypox SOP has the following points:
- People who have visited the regions where the monkeypox cases were reported, in the last 21 days and are seeing symptoms such as red spots, body ache, high fever, or headache should suppose that they have caught the viral infection.
- Experts talked about the risk factor saying that the dangers of contracting the virus are higher when an individual comes in direct contact with another infected person.
- The Health Minister of Kerala said that a PCR test is mandatory for those who see symptoms to ascertain whether they are infected or not.
- All the people who are suspected to have contracted the monkeypox infection should be treated separately and kept in isolation until they test negative. Moreover, any suspected or confirmed case of the disease should be reported to the District Surveillance Officer (DSO) for speedy actions.
- Private hospitals with isolation facilities should recommend their patients to the public ones only at their request. In case, there are critical patients in government hospitals should be considered shifting to medical colleges.
- While transporting an affected patient to a hospital it is necessary that they along with the health workers are wearing PPE kits, gloves, N-95 masks, and sunglasses, for preventing further spread.
- Thermal screening at airports is made obligatory. Whenever any traveller shows Monkeypox symptoms, they should be immediately shifted to the nearest hospital.
To understand the seriousness of the disease better let’s consider an official explanation of it. The World Health Organization identifies Monkeypox as:
“A viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.”
With Monkeypox having entered India, the fears of another medical emergency have been pouring in. Hopefully, the situation comes under control before things get worse.
