AS the threat of the monkeypox viral disease grows, the Department of Health yesterday advised all hospitals in the country to prepare isolation facilities.
No monkeypox case has yet been reported in the country. Worldwide, nearly 20 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks early this month, with more than 100 confirmed or suspected infections mostly in Europe.
The DOH, in a statement, said its Field Implementation and Coordination Team and the One Hospital Command Center are closely coordinating for the preparation of hospitals across the country.
For the moment, it said, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) has been instructed to remain open to accept monkeypox cases.
“All government hospitals shall prepare an area for isolation and treatment facilities in the event that Doors 3 and 4 are activated,” said the DOH.
“During the activation of Doors 1 and 2 of DOH’s 4-Door Alert System, the RITM is hereby designated as the main isolation facility for suspect, probable, and confirmed monkeypox cases,” said the DOH.
The government’s “4-Door Strategy” is a framework of the National Emergency
Operational Response Plan which prevents and controls emerging infectious diseases.
Door 1 implements strict border controls for travelers coming from high risk countries and areas as a primary level of defense. Door 2 includes screening, testing, and quarantine at points of entry to the country. Door 3 enables communities to mount responses using the Prevent, Detect, Isolate, Treat and Reintegrate (PDITR) approach with the addition of safe and effective vaccines once available. Door 4 protects and capacitates health workers and patients with facilities, equipment, and medicines (once available), preparing the healthcare system to keep it from being overwhelmed.
The DOH said hospitals, in preparing the facilities, must ensure compliance with requirements.
“Cases shall be immediately isolated in a private room, preferably with negative air pressure, until signs and symptoms have been resolved,” said the DOH.
It stressed the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any vaccine for use against monkeypox.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox is a mild viral disease coming from animals, and occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.
Its symptoms include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes, which may lead to a range of medical complications.
The monkeypox virus is transmitted to humans through close contact (wounds, body fluids, respiratory droplets) with an infected person or animal, or with contaminated materials.
Monkeypox is endemic in the African countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.
The WHO earlier on Tuesday said while the outbreak is unusual, the disease remains “containable” and limited. It said the outbreak outside Africa does not require mass vaccinations as measures like good hygiene and safe sexual behavior will help control its spread.
It also said that immediate supplies of vaccines and antivirals are relatively limited.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it was in the process of releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for use in monkeypox cases while Moderna Inc is testing potential vaccines against monkeypox in pre-clinical trials.
The acting director of Africa’s top public health agency said that he hoped the vaccine hoarding episode seen during the COVID-19 pandemic will not be repeated with the current monkeypox outbreak.
“Vaccines should go to where it is needed the most and equitably, so based on risk, and not on who can be able to buy it,” acting director Ahmed Ogwell Ouma of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. — With Reuters
