AP Geared to Deal With Mpox; Health Staff Keeping Close Watch on It

Vijayawada:AP health authorities are gearing up to deal with Mpox in case it hits the state.

All district medical and health offices have been forwarded a set of guidelines issued by the union government. These offices, in turn, will pass on the guidelines to medical officers. These officers will keep in constant touch with their health personnel be detect symptoms of Mpox in a patient.

The health personnel will be looking for people suffering from fever, weakness, body pains, those with rash on hands and legs, and formation of pus when the disease becomes contagious.

People with HIV / AIDS and MSMs (men having sex with men) are more vulnerable to Mpox.

Health authorities said isolation wards have been started at all government hospitals for people suffering from fever and showing symptoms similar to Mpox. Special wards for Mpox are being put in place in government hospitals at Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati to start with.

Fluids, serum, blood and urine samples of suspected Mpox patients will be sent for analysis to Pune, as per the guidelines issued.

Health director Dr. K. Padmavathi said, “We are fully prepared to deal with any case of Mpox. All our health personnel and hospitals are geared up to rise to the challenge. We are also keeping a tab on international travellers, especially from African countries, at our airports.”

In districts, medical and health officers are making all out efforts to bring about awareness, especially among health personnel. Audio-visual presentations are being made on symptoms and steps to be taken to deal with suspected or infected cases. Health personnel are being educated about the disease protocols, like the period of incubation and self-limiting nature of the symptoms.

NTR district medical and health officer Dr. M. Suhasini said, “We are trying to bring about complete awareness about Mpox among the health personnel. A close watch is being kept especially on international travellers to detect symptoms of Mpox among them.”