Govt advises states to screen, test all suspect mpox cases

The Centre on Monday advised states and union territories to screen and test of all suspect mpox cases in the community and identify isolation facilities in hospitals for both suspect and confirmed patients reported news agency PTIIn a letter sent to states and union territories on Monday Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra asked them prevent any undue panic amongst the massesNo new case of Mpox has been reported in India in the current outbreak and none of the samples in suspected mpox cases have tested positive he said while emphasising the need to stay alert reported PTIHe underlined that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare continues to closely monitor the evolving situation reported PTIHe asked the states and UTs to review public health preparedness particularly at health facility level identify isolation facilities in hospitals and ensure availability of required logistics and trained human resources at such facilitiesHe also called for the orientation of all key stakeholders with focus on surveillance units under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme IDSP at state and district levels to reorient them on definitions of suspect probable confirmed mpox cases contact tracing and other surveillance activities reported PTISuspected mpox case under probe no cause for alarm GovtA man who recently travelled from a country experiencing mpox transmission has been identified as a suspected case of the disease the Union health ministry said on Sunday reported PTIThe patient has been isolated at a designated hospital and is currently stable it said adding that there is no cause for concernSamples have been collected from the man and are being tested to confirm the presence of mpoxThe case is being managed in line with established protocols and contact tracing is ongoing to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country the ministry said reported PTIThe development of this case is consistent with the earlier risk assessment conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control NCDC and there is no cause of any undue concern it said reported PTIThe country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travelrelated cases and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk the ministry addedThe World Health Organisation WHO declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern PHEIC for the second time last month in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of AfricaSince the 2022 declaration of PHEIC by WHO 30 mpox cases have been reported in India The last case of mpox was detected in March this yearAccording to WHOs earlier statement 99176 mpox cases and 208 deaths have been reported from 116 countries since 2022 Last year the reported cases increased significantly reported PTIThe number of mpox cases reported so far this year has exceeded last years total with more than 15600 cases and 537 deaths reported PTIMpox is a viral zoonosis with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients although clinically less severeAccording to officials mpox infections are generally selflimiting lasting between two and four weeks Mpox patients usually recover with supportive medical care and managementWith inputs from PTI