Preparing for monkeypox

With the COVID-19 pandemic not yet over, the world now faces yet another viral disease that is threatening to become a global health emergency. Monkeypox, a viral infection similar to smallpox, has now spread to 70 countries.

The World Health Organization is reconvening its committee of experts on monkeypox to decide whether it should be classified under the high-est WHO level of alarm, as a public health emergency of international concern or PHEIC.

The WHO declared COVID-19 as a PHEIC on Jan. 30, 2020, when there were 98 cases and no deaths in 18 countries outside China. The overlong term failed to raise suf-ficiently loud alarm bells, with only a handful of places such as Taiwan quickly imposing the strictest border controls, contact tracing, isolation and masking requirements. COVID was declared a pandemic by the WHO only on March 11, 2020. By March 12, global COVID infections had jumped to 6,756 worldwide.

In the case of monkeypox, nearly 14,000 cases had been reported in 70 countries as of yesterday. The self-limiting disease causes rashes or le-sions and intense body aches, chills and fever. A consolation in this latest public health threat is that it is less virulent than small-pox, is rarely fatal and is less transmissible than COVID-19.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the monkeypox virus can spread person-to-person through direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs or body fluids; respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact or in-timate physical contact such as cud-dling, kissing and sex, and touching items such as clothing or linens that came in contact with the infectious rash or body fluid.

Pregnant women can infect their fetus. An infected animal can also spread the virus by scratching or bit-ing humans, or if the infected animal meat is handled or eaten. The disease is infectious from the onset until the lesion or rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed, usu-ally from two to four weeks.

So far, no monkeypox case has been reported in the Philippines. But with open borders, health experts warn that it is only a matter of time before the disease enters the country, so measures to prevent its spread must be in place. The threat posed by the disease also gives additional urgency to continued compliance with COVID safety protocols such as masking and hand hygiene.