After the COVID-19 pandemic, Monkeypox disease was a new risk for India. When India was still fighting the coronavirus cases, this new infection seemed to be a major burden to handle. India was the country that confirmed Asia’s first death of Monkeypox when a young man from Kerala died.
As of the 2022 report, 23 cases of infection were witnessed in the country. Without any further delay, the country started issuing effective measures with the monkeypox guidelines to restrict infection from the root. In this post, we will discuss how India reduced the infection.
Guidelines Issued For Monkeypox Infection
India’s monkeypox guidelines included the epidemiology of the disease. It was also focused on identification, contact and case definitions, diagnosis, case management, clinical features and complications, risk communication and guidance based on Infection Prevention and Control.
The primary measure was taken to conduct surveillance. It was instructed for the governing authorities to perform stress surveillance and identification of cases. This was the major part of the guideline to outbreak containment and break the monkeypox infection chain. Based on the guidelines, the alleged contacts are advised to get monitored daily until the onset of symptoms.
Hence, the supervision and observation of the contacts were conducted for a period of 21 days. Every person who came in contact with the infected individual was isolated for the respective days. It was instructed to keep an eye on the last contact of the patient and their contaminated materials in the infectious phase.
Preventive Guidelines Advised To Follow
The government and health ministry declared preventive measures to prevent the infection of the virus.
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Avoiding Contact With Suspected Persons And Materials
It was advised to avoid contact with an infected person and also a person having signs and symptoms. Also, it was necessary to prevent contact with materials such as sheets, blankets, clothes, or other materials that have been in contact with an infected animal or person.
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Isolation Of Infected Patients
The patients who were infected were isolated for 21 days. They were isolated from other individuals with preventive aids. The infected patients are instructed to stay in isolation until the rashes on their resolve, the scabs fall off, and a new layer of skin has formed.
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Practice Of Personal Hygiene
Hygiene maintenance was highly important. The public was already aware of hygiene practices due to the coronavirus outbreak. The public was trained and educated to wash their hands properly and use alcohol-based hand sanitiser.
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Utilization Of PPE
The appropriate usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) was checked to care for the patients.
Treatment Management Of Monkeypox
The treatment of monkeypox infection aimed to reduce the sign and symptoms. Persons with symptomatic signs were advised to undergo isolation for at least 2 to 3 weeks. The infected patients were recommended to drink enough liquids to keep their bodies hydrated. Pin medications were also given for pain management.
While living with family, the patient must isolate himself in a separate room from other family members and pets until the rashes and scabs get healed. There was no specific treatment for this disease. Patients were given antibiotics to recover from the symptoms.
The healthcare professionals were trained to treat monkeypox disease with antiviral drugs, which were used against smallpox. For example, the patients will be given brincidofovir (Tembexa) and tecovirimat (TPOXX). People have shown improvements with the help of antivirals.
Vaccines such as JYNNEOS and ACAM2000 were used in the US to prevent Monkeypox infection. But the Indian market doesn’t have any vaccine for the disease. But people of India were already immunized with the smallpox vaccine, which has been shown to respond with antibody production.
Complications Guidelines People Should Be Aware Of
The monkeypox guidelines also issued complications to make people aware of the severity of the disease. The complications included severe symptoms such as severe scars on the face, hands, arms and legs. Rashes on the eyes can lead to blindness. It also led to other sorts of infections; in rare cases, people can also lose their lives.
Final Thoughts
With the help of management guidelines, monkeypox cases have noticed a decline in the graph. The management guidelines are still followed strictly to trace any suspected cases in the future. As of now, India didn’t notice any monkeypox cases for several months.