WEB DESK
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has issued an alert at all ports in Bangladesh including the land, air and Sea ports to undertake surveillance and screening of passengers against the spread of monkeypox in the country, reports the official news agency BSS.
In its circular issued on Saturday, the DGHS asked for screening and surveillance of passengers arriving from countries with monkeypox cases.
The circular asks the patients with symptoms of monkeypox to be taken to government hospitals or infectious diseases hospitals. They should be kept in isolation and it should be reported to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease control and Research (IEDCR), says the circular.
The DGHS circular points out that monkeypox is not a new disease. It was found mainly among people in the West and Middle African countries in the past. Monkeypox is a mild viral infection from which most people recover in a few weeks, according to the UK’s National Health Service. The virus does not spread easily between people and the risk to the wider public is said to be very low.
However, concern has been raised as recently monkeypox cases have been detected among people living in some European and American countries with no history of travelling to African countries. According to WHO till Saturday, 92 laboratory confirmed cases, and 28 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported from 12 member states that are not endemic for monkeypox virus.
Additionally, Israel and Switzerland are the latest countries to confirm cases of monkeypox on Sunday, taking the total number of countries with monkeypox cases to 14.