The Kerala government issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on Wednesday for isolation and treatment of people infected with monkeypox after the state reported two such cases.
Kerala health minister Veena George while sharing details said any person who visited the country in the past 21 days where monkeypox was reported and if they have any symptom such as red spots on body, fever, bodyache or headache, they should suspect that it is the viral infection.
Risk of infection is higher when a person is in close physical contact, or in direct skin-to-skin contact, in touch with a health worker not wearing a PPE kit or sexual intercourse with the infected person.
Monkeypox can be confirmed through a PCR test, the minister said.
According to the Health department’s SOP, as mentioned in the release, suspected and probable cases of monkeypox are to be treated separately and in isolation and the District Surveillance Officer (DSO) should be informed immediately.
Private hospitals, which have an isolation facility, should refer the patients to government hospitals only on patients’ request. Only those who are in a critical condition in government hospitals with the isolation facility should be shifted to medical colleges, the SOP said.
Confirmed cases of monkeypox should be handled following the guidelines by the Centre. As all international airports in the state have thermal scanners, the release said that anyone showing signs of fever would be examined for red spots by a medical team and if such signs are found, they will be transferred to the nearest hospital with isolation facilities and the DSO would be informed about the same.
If there are doubts related to the treatment of monkeypox patients, the state medical board should be contacted.
If a patient has to be taken in an ambulance, PPE kit, N-95 masks, gloves and glasses should be worn. a person should be transferred only on the direction of a DSO. If there are cuts or blisters in the body that should be covered with clothes.
After taking the patient to the hospital, the ambulance should be sanitised.
Health workers will contact those in the primary contact list for 21 days and check if they have any symptoms. They will contact them twice a day through phone.
If those in the primary contact list have fever, they will be isolated immediately and clinical and lab tests will be conducted. If there are red rashes, samples will be sent from monkeypox testing.
Those who are in the contact list and does not have any symptoms should not donate blood, tissue, organs or semen.
India had on Monday reported a second confirmed case of monkeypox from Kerala’s Kannur district. It was a patient, who arrived in Kerala on July 13, was a native of Kannur in north Kerala and was undergoing treatment at the Pariyaram Medical College there.
The first case of monkeypox, a rare but potentially serious viral illness, was reported from Kollam district of south Kerala on July 14. He is currently undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. Both their samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, and they tested positive for the virus.
The minister said those who are in close contact with the infected persons are being monitored.
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