State ready to handle mpox cases: Health services dir

Bhubaneswar: After detection of a monkeypox (mpox) case in Delhi, director of health services Bijay Mohapatra said here on Monday that Odisha is prepared to handle such cases.
Mohapatra said the mpox patient has been kept in isolation in an international quarantine room. “Earlier, the Centre issued guidelines on mpox. On Monday, it issued an advisory to all states/Union Territories after WHO declared mpox as a public health emergency of international concern,” he added.
Mohapatra said the state will follow Centre’s guidelines and advisories issued for management of mpox.“We are on alert. We are prepared to handle such infections. No need to panic because India has so far detected only one case,” he added.
He said people travelling from mpox-affected countries are under surveillance. The Centre is taking care of these people at international airports, he added.
Mpox cases were first reported in Democratic Republic of Congo. Later it spread to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Most cases are young males in the median age of 34 years (18-44 years).
Among modes of transmission reported globally, sexual contact is most common, followed by person-to-person non-sexual contact. The most common symptoms are rashes (including systemic or genital rashes) followed by fever. Around half of the cases detected worldwide are HIV-positive.
Official sources said the disease surveillance network is on alert to detect any clustering of cases. Health units at points of entry (airports) have been instructed to strengthen screening of incoming travellers to detect any suspected case. Laboratory network under the Indian Council of Medical Research has been strengthened to test samples from any suspected case.
In the advisory, the Centre urged state AIDS control societies to remain alert to pick up suspected cases and improve community awareness for timely reporting of cases. While all states are requested to undertake appropriate activities to make communities aware of the disease, its mode of spread, need for timely reporting and preventive measures, it is crucial that any undue panic is prevented, it read.