The Health department has decided to start help desks at all airports in the State as part of the preventive and control measures being adopted against monkeypox in the State, Health Minister Veena George said here. International travellers coming to the State can approach these help desks if they have any symptoms of fever or swelling in the lymph nodes or if at all they fear that they may have had contact with a person in whom monkeypox had been confirmed, she said.
The Health department is deploying trained health workers at the help desks to guide travellers. Ms. George said that over the past three days, some 1,500 health workers in the State had been given training in various aspects of monkeypox prevention and control. This apart, public announcements would be made in English and Malayalam in all airports that people who have travelled to countries where monkeypox has been reported in the last 21 days should report to the help desk if at all they develop any symptoms like fever or rash, headache or difficulty in swallowing.
People who have any such symptoms should remain in isolation and surveillance for 21 days. They should have no contact with children, pregnant women or those with reduced immunity in the family. Isolation facilities have been arranged in all districts.
Meanwhile, one person who flew into Kannur airport on Saturday from Mangaluru who is suspected to have developed symptoms similar to monkeypox, has been isolated at the Pariyaram Government Medical College Hospital at Kannur, Ms. George confirmed. His samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for analysis.
West African strain
Ms. George said that it has been confirmed that the West African strain of the orthopox virus, which had a lower case fatality rate of 1%-3% was the infectious agent in Kerala’s lone case also. There are two clades of monkeypox virus: the West African clade and the Congo Basin (Central African) clade. The Congo Basin clade appears to cause severe disease more frequently with case fatality ratio (CFR) previously reported of up to around 10%.
The West African clade has in the past been associated with an overall lower CFR of around 1% in a generally younger population in the African setting. The WHO has confirmed that the West Africa clade of the monkeypox virus is present in this multi-country outbreak and this has been ascertained by the genomic sequencing published by many European nations too.
Awareness creation
Ms. George said that the Health department has decided to launch awareness programmes on a mass scale to educate the public on monkeypox and how one may protect oneself from this infection.
Over 1,200 doctors in government and private sector have been involved in the training programmes. The Health department is roping in the IMA and the Kerala Institute of Local Administration to train health workers at the grassroots, including ASHAs, Kudumbashree volunteers. An interactive training session for health workers is being held on Monday from 11 a.m. till 12 noon, in which the public can also join in through the link https://youtu.be/FC1gsr9y1BI.
