The UK has designated monkeypox as a 100% aligned disease and should strengthen reporting if doctors or laboratories suspect or identify cases.
According to Wendy Shepherd, Monkeypox Incident Director, UK Health and Security Agency, the move will speed up data collection and analysis, allowing authorities to quickly detect potential outbreaks and track contacts. Help and provide vaccinations as needed.
“Rapid diagnosis and reporting is the key to stopping the infection and containing the further spread of monkeypox. This new law will help us and our health partners to get sick,” Shepherd said in a statement. It will help identify, treat and manage quickly. “
The UK has detected more than 300 cases of illness in its current outbreak, but health officials say the risk to the general public is low.
Under the new guidelines, UK physicians should notify the local council or health protection team if a case is suspected. If a virus is identified in a lab sample, the lab should notify the health security agency.
The cousin of smallpox virus was previously mostly confined to the African region, but cases are increasing in Europe and North America. Pathogens usually cause flu-like symptoms, often starting on the face and followed by a rash that spreads throughout the body. In many cases, the disease lasts from two weeks to a month and can be fatal.
Infection with the virus usually requires direct contact with body fluids, infectious pain, or large respiratory droplet contaminants.
Making monkeypox a notable disease “suggests that the government wants to focus surveillance on the entire population, not just the risk groups identified so far,” said the London School of Epidemiology and Tropical. David Hayman, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Medicine, said. This clearly identifies all risk groups and “helps us better understand the extent of epidemiology and spread,” he said.
Travel self-restraint recommendation
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised the monkeypox travel advisory to Level 2 on May 20. This means that Americans visiting countries that are currently experiencing the need to take enhanced precautions.
Although the risk to the public is low, current guidance for American travelers recommends avoiding close contact with people who are symptomatic and avoiding contact with dead or living wildlife. doing. The best travel alert, Level 3, will require Americans to avoid all non-essential trips.
On May 30, the agency recommended wearing a mask to protect against monkeypox. However, this guidance was removed from the site on Monday, and masks should only be worn in high-risk situations, including household contacts, healthcare professionals, or others who may be in close contact with a person. It is necessary. ” “A person identified with monkeypox,” a spokesman for the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
