TN Directs Health Officials To Step Up Surveillance At International Airports On Monkeypox Disease

Indicating that the chances of monkeypox case cannot be ruled out in the country, the Tamil Nadu Health Department on Tuesday advised international airports in the state to step up their surveillance with regard to the disease and directed the respective health officer to collect samples of passengers who show symptoms on arrival from the affected countries. The Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T S Selvavinayagam said the health officer at the international airports may isolate the sick travelers on arrival and send their samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune for further investigation.

Airport health officer, Airport Authority of India (AAI), and International airports of Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Madurai, and Tuticorin have been advised to 'strictly' subject any international travelers with fever, headache, muscle ache, and exhaustion, to sample testing, said Dr. Selvavinayagam, in an official release. According to him, as of 20th May, cases of monkeypox disease were reported in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Europe, Australia, and Canada with no fatalities. Although no monkeypox case has been reported in the country, chances of this disease occurring in India cannot be 'ruled out, he cautioned.

Health facilities are advised to keep heightened suspicion in people who have an unexplained rash or have traveled in the last 21 days to a country with confirmed cases of monkeypox, he said. All suspected cases are to be isolated in designated healthcare facilities and the patients must be reported to the District Surveillance Officer. He also insisted that all infection control practices should be followed while treating such patients.

 "In case a positive case is detected, contact tracing has to be initiated immediately to identify the contacts of the patient in the last 21 days. "As a proactive approach, National Centre for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has identified several public health actions to be initiated in event of suspected cases being reported from India," he said.