Ministry of Health and Wellness Increases Surveillance for Mpox Amid WHO Public Health Emergency

The Ministry of Health and Wellness will be stepping up surveillance for people exhibiting symptoms of Mpox, previously known as monkeypox.

This comes in the wake of the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring the disease a public health emergency of international concern. Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus on Wednesday pointed to the rising incidence of Mpox, along with a number of fatalities in some sub-Saharan African countries, as a result of a new variant, Clade I.

Chief Medical Officer The Most Honourable Dr Kenneth George said the designation by the WHO was a signal that countries across the globe should enhance surveillance and implement preventative measures to help people protect themselves from the possibility of infection.

He added the designation also gave WHO the ability to access emergency funding for an enhanced global response.

Mpox is a highly infectious disease spread through close contact, including intimate or sexual contact with a person with Mpox, and through contact with contaminated materials such as bedding or clothing. Transmission occurs through direct contact with skin lesions, body fluids or respiratory droplets from an infected person.

The disease is manifested by a prodrome of flu-like symptoms followed by a rash consisting of pox and vesicles. People are most infectious at the onset of the illness and when the lesions are in the acute stage and anyone with a travel history who presents with an unusual rash should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Those most vulnerable to severe illness include children, pregnant women and persons with a weakened immune system.

Although there is no evidence of acute infection in Barbados at this time, the Ministry of Health and Wellness encourages physicians, both in the public and private sectors, to be vigilant, test according to protocol and notify the Ministry of Health and Wellness of suspected cases. (PR/SAT)