The Ministry for Health ordered that, due to the appearance of the first case of monkeypox in Venezuela, all health entities must be attentive to the appearance of patients with atypical rashes that progress in sequential stages and are associated with fever. , lymphadenopathy and myalgia.
For this, the ministry presented an epidemiological surveillance protocol for the disease, published on its website, given that the disease is generally mild and self-limited, but special emphasis will be placed on protecting susceptible people at risk of suffering from it, such as immunosuppressed and women. pregnant.
how it sticks
The entity points out that, although this virus is transmitted by primates and wild animals, it also has a secondary route: from person to person.
This pathway can be through contact with infected individuals or material through broken skin, mucous membranes, and the respiratory tract.
This would also involve the airway, from the inhalation of respiratory secretions (when speaking, coughing, sneezing) or vesicular fluid from skin lesions.
Also by direct contact with the aforementioned vesicular fluid; or indirect, by having contact with recently contaminated clothing or objects.
Another important fact is that the incubation period is usually from six to 16 days, although it can vary from 5 to 21, from the moment of infection.
Studies indicate that infected people are contagious from one day before the appearance of rashes until 21 after the initial symptoms, or until the scabs separate and throat swabs are negative. As susceptibility is universal, you have to be flies.
Other cases
There are 1,285 cases detected in 28 countries, notified the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who urged countries to continue detecting them to stop their spread.
“The WHO is particularly concerned about the risks to vulnerable groups, including children and pregnant women,” he said.