Image Credit source: PTI
Experts say that not only young children, but anyone who has not been vaccinated against smallpox can become vulnerable to monkeypox infection. However, there is no need to panic with this virus.
At present, monkeypox virus is spreading very fast in many countries. In such a situation, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a warning. ICMR said, ‘This virus is very dangerous for children. Young children are at high risk from this disease. In such a situation, its symptoms have to be monitored. At the same time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of Friday (May 27), 226 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 21 countries. Although there is no case of this virus in India so far, but the government has issued a high alert regarding the infection.
In an interview given to news agency ANI, ICMR scientist Dr. Aparna Mukherjee said, ‘Children are very sensitive to monkeypox infection. Dr. said “Children are more vulnerable to monkeypox infection. The elderly will be vaccinated against smallpox. After the 1980s, many people did not get the smallpox vaccine. In such a situation, monkeypox infection can prove to be dangerous for the youth as well. Let us tell you that the smallpox vaccine gives cross-immunity to deal with the infection.
The average age of those infected is 29 years
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Ishwar Gilada told TV 9 that not only young children, but anyone who has not been vaccinated against smallpox can be vulnerable to monkeypox infection. He said, ‘According to a study by Lancet, the average age of people infected with this virus in Nigeria during 2017 was 29 years. The study found that the age of people infected with monkeypox virus was between 2 days and 50 years.
Smallpox vaccine effective in both prevention and treatment
Dr. Gilada explained, ‘India declared itself smallpox free in 1979 and stopped vaccinating it. Now I think it is the right time to re-use the smallpox vaccine, because monkeypox is a disease of the smallpox category. Vaccines can be used for both treatment and prevention. If we vaccinate within two-three days of infection, then the person will recover quickly.
He said that apart from the smallpox vaccine, there are also three antiviral compounds ST-246, Cidofovir and CMX001, which are being investigated for the treatment of monkeypox. These antivirals are available in the US.
Should India be worried?
ICMR scientist Dr. Mukherjee said that people should not panic and should avoid coming in contact with those people whose test positive for monkeypox has come. The ICMR official said, ‘People should not panic about this disease and its symptoms, as it usually spreads by coming very close to the infected. Guidelines are set for this, which have already been published by ICMR-NIV.
Meanwhile, the ANI report also confirmed that the Union Health Ministry will soon issue guidelines to deal with the virus. The guidelines will include management methods such as isolation, contact tracing, contact monitoring, preventive measures and threat assessment etc.
These are symptoms
ICMR scientist has also released a list of unusual symptoms of monkeypox, which people should pay attention to. Especially those people who have returned from traveling countries battling monkeypox.
symptoms of monkeypox
– body pain
– rashes on the body
– high fever
– Multiple lymphadenopathies
– large lymph nodes
preparing to deal with the virus
Trivitron Healthcare, an Indian private health device company, has designed an RT-PCR test kit to test for monkeypox infection. This kit can give results in an hour. According to the statement issued by the company, ‘Trivitron Healthcare’s research and development team has designed an RT-PCR based kit for the detection of monkeypox virus. Monkeypox Realtime PCR Kit from Trivitron is a four color based kit that can differentiate between smallpox and monkeypox in a one-tube single reaction format. Also, can tell the result in an hour.
The company’s statement said, ‘The type of samples recommended by WHO to test for monkeypox in the lab should contain infected skin. In addition, there should be a swab and/or exudate of the wound surface, including more than one wound layer, or wound crust. In this case, both dry swab and normal swab kept in VTM can be used.
WHO’s opinion on monkeypox infection
The World Health Organization official said that countries should take the right measures to easily prevent cases of monkeypox and should also share the data of their vaccine stock. “We don’t know anything about the spread of the disease,” said Sylvie Bryand, WHO director for Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness. We think we can probably control it easily if we adopt the right methods now. So, today we are giving information about this and trying to raise awareness, because the virus has just started and now we have a good chance to stop the transmission.
On the risk of community spread, he said, ‘We fear that it will spread in the community, but at this time it is very difficult to assess the risk of infection.’
Sylvie Bryand said on the spread of monkeypox in non-endemic countries, ‘We have received information about the number of cases in many countries. The number of these countries is around 20 and there is no information about many countries yet. Apart from this, we do not have enough information about the disease, because we do not know whether this abnormal condition is due to virus change or not. This does not seem to be the case because the first sequencing of the virus shows that the strain is not different from the strain found in endemic countries and this is probably due to more changes in human behavior. But we are also investigating this and trying to understand its source due to the sudden spread of monkeypox in non-endemic countries.
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Source: www.tv9hindi.com
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