Govt Issues Guidelines For Monkeypox. Asks States To Stress On Rapid Identification, Isolation

The guidelines also stated that all clinical specimens will be sent to NIV Pune Apex Laboratory through Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme network. 

Union Health Ministry on Tuesday issued first set of guidlines for the much talk about Monkeypox virus that has spread scare in United States, Europe and African nations. The ministry has issued guidelines to states and union territories (UTs) on the management of Monkeypox disease.

In the 'Guidelines on Management of Monkeypox Disease' issued to states and union territories (UTs) of the country, the Health Ministry stressed on surveillance and rapid identification of new cases as the key public health measures for outbreak containment.

The ministry also asked authorities to reduce the risk of human-to-human transmission.

The government issued guidelines directing district surveillance units to consider even one such case as an outbreak and initiating a detailed investigation through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

However, there are no reported cases of monkey pox in India as of now.

India needs to be prepared in view of the increasing reports of cases in non-endemic countries even as no case of monkeypox virus has been reported in the country till date, the Ministry said in an official statement. 

The government also asked states and UTs to prepare a surveillance strategy to rapidly identify cases and clusters of infections and the sources of infections as soon as possible in order to isolate cases to prevent further transmission.

A confirmed case is laboratory confirmed for monkeypox virus by detection of unique sequences of viral DNA either by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or sequencing, the guidelines stated. 

The health ministry said it continues to maintain a close watch over the evolving situation.

Monkeypox has been reported as endemic in several other central and western African countries including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo and others. 

The virus has also been reported in several other non-endemic countries including the US, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Austria, Israel and Switzerland.