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Expressing concern over rise in monkeypox cases globally as well as confirmation of one such case in India, medical professionals have appealed to the central government to adopt out-of-box strategies to deal with monkeypox in the country, irrespective of the World Health Organization (WHO) stand.
“A country of 1.4 billion people cannot remain aloof, when 9,000+ monkeypox cases in 63 countries have been notified. It's basically a 21st sexually transmitted disease (STD) of 21st century. Like HIV it will take a long time to become a full-fledged pandemic. Let us not hound on the patients. We need to prevent stigma and discrimination from the very beginning. Otherwise, people suspected of monkeypox infection would go underground,” said Dr Ishwar Gilada, Consultant in HIV and Infectious Diseases, and Secretary General of Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG).
Dr Gilada said “India should prioritise production of smallpox vaccines which has dual utility in monkeypox - both for prevention as well as treatment. It will be helpful to other nations too, as India is a vaccine powerhouse. India's strength is its robust HIV control and treatment programme. Hence National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) should be involved right away.”
It's high time that the WHO should declare this an STD and a global public health emergency too, he stated.
However, he clarified that there are no parallels with the Covid pandemic as monkeypox doesn't spread through aerosols. It is spread through very close skin to skin contact.
Monkeypox virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans via indirect or direct contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.
Earlier this week, the WHO said that over 10857 cases from 63 countries were recorded, a majority of them since May. Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States of America and Portugal have maximum cases. In one published study 1242 initial cases were men and 14 women. Thus, there is a 99:1 ratio in male to female. So far monkeypox cases have not been detected in children. A total of three deaths have been reported due to monkeypox.
WHO convened a meeting of the Emergency Committee on June 23, 2022 to seek expert advice if the ongoing outbreak was a public health emergency of international concern. The committee recommended intense response to curtail the spread of the ongoing outbreak, in view of low population immunity against pox virus infection and risk of further sustained transmission into the wider population. The next meeting of the Emergency Committee has been convened on July 21.
India reported its first case of monkeypox in Kerala on July 14, 2022, with a 35-year-old man who returned from the UAE testing positive for the virus. It is the first case of monkeypox in WHO South-East Asia.
Shortly after, the Union government dispatched a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Kerala. The country’s first case comes nearly two months after the spread of the virus - beyond Africa - to “non-endemic” nations had sparked concerns.
In the current outbreak countries and amongst the reported monkeypox cases, transmission appears to be occurring primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, clothing, that have infectious skin particles.
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