Nothing new about Monkey Pox, people shouldn't panic: AIIMS professor

Srinagar, Aug 24:  A professor from the department of Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Prof. Sanjay Rai said that there is no need to panic about the Monkey Pox (Mpox) and that the disease won't lead to another pandemic like COVID.

Rai said that unlike COVID, the Monkey-Pox has been in the world for around 50 years, and that in these years, enough evidence has been gathered to say that it won't be as intense as COVID.

Rai was speaking on the sidelines of "Kashmir Science Vision-2024", an academic feast held at Sher-i-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) in collaboration with the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

"We didn't know anything about COVID, and that resulted in a pandemic across the globe, but it's different in the case of Monkey-Pox," Rai said.

He said enough research has been done, and the modern medicine believes in evidence-based medications, which has been acquired in the case of MPox.

Rai said the first time the case of Mpox was registered, was back in 1970 in a child.

He further said that the infectivity of the Mpox is not capable enough to create a pandemic like situation.

After a month or two, Rai said people would have forgotten about it.

On 15-August this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the disease as a global health emergency.

On the same day, WHO asked for an immediate funding of US$ 15-million to support surveillance, preparedness and response activities regarding the virus.

On August 20, India heightened the alert across the country amid rising M-pox cases. It asked the airports, ports, and border authorities to remain vigilant about incoming international passengers who show M-pox symptoms.

India also designated three hospitals in its capital New Delhi as key facilities to quarantine such cases. These hospital are: Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Hospital.

On the same day, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi issued a protocol for handling patients with suspected M-pox.

As a protocol, AIIMS outlined necessary steps to handle these cases at its emergency department.

“Upon arrival, patients with fever, rash, or a history of contact with confirmed Monkeypox cases should be flagged for immediate assessment,” read the protocol.

The next step is to identify key symptoms like fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and characteristic skin lesions (maculopapular rash that may progress to vesicles and pustules), AIIMS said.

Then on August 23, J&K Health department said it was on high alert even as it ordered mock drills across all the health facilities.

An official had said that isolation wards would be set-up in all health facilities as a precautionary measure.