3 Delhi govt hospitals directed to set up isolation rooms for Mpox cases: Officials

The Delhi government has directed three of its hospitals to set up isolation rooms for management of suspected and confirmed cases of Mpox, officials said on Tuesday, even as they stressed that there were no patients detected here till now.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.

''Three Delhi government hospitals -- LNJP, GTB and Baba Saheb Ambedkar -- have been directed to set up isolation rooms for suspected and confirmed cases of the disease. While LNJP has been designated as the nodal facility, two other hospitals are on standby,'' a senior health department official told PTI.

The Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital will have a total of 20 isolation rooms for the patients, including 10 for confirmed cases.

The Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital and Baba Saheb Ambedkar will have 10 rooms each for such patients, with five rooms each for suspected cases.

However, the official said that there was no need to panic and the government is fully prepared.

''There are no cases as of now. We are fully alert and monitoring the situation,'' he added.

An earlier statement from the WHO stated that 99,176 cases and 208 deaths had been reported due to Mpox from 116 countries globally since 2022.

Mpox cases have been steadily increasing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 2022, thirty Mpox cases were reported in India. The last case of Mpox was detected in March 2024.

''We convened a meeting with all Medical Directors and Superintendents, where we emphasized the current situation and shared the Standard Operating Procedures from the Government of India,'' a health department official said.

''The Secretary of Health also held a detailed meeting with the Medical Directors of Delhi government hospitals to address the monkeypox issue. The latest guidelines from the Government of India and the World Health Organization were shared. LNJP has been designated as the nodal hospital, and necessary arrangements, including isolation wards, will be set up in three hospitals,'' he added.

The WHO has declared Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as of August 14, 2024.

In response, the Delhi government has issued directives to all state-run hospitals to establish isolation wards for managing both suspected and confirmed cases of the virus, even though no cases have been reported in India so far, according to an official order.

The isolation protocols require the patients to be placed in separate rooms with individual ventilation systems, wear triple-layer masks and ensure that skin lesions are covered to minimize contact with others.

Isolation should continue until all lesions have resolved and scabs have completely fallen off, as per the order.

Monkeypox is known to spread from human to human primarily through large respiratory droplets, typically requiring prolonged close contact.

It can also be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids or lesion material, as well as through indirect contact via contaminated clothing or linens.

Health authorities have urged vigilance, particularly among individuals who have travelled to the affected countries within the last 21 days, as per the order. A person of any age presenting with an unexplained acute rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, body aches or profound weakness and who has recently travelled to the affected areas is considered a suspected case of Monkeypox, it added. The health advisory further explains that a probable case involves someone who meets the suspected case definition and has a clinically compatible illness with an epidemiological link.

This could include face-to-face exposure, direct physical contact with skin or lesions, or contact with contaminated materials like clothing or bedding.

A confirmed case is one that is verified through laboratory testing, specifically by detecting the unique sequence of the Monkeypox virus DNA via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or sequencing, it said.

Last year, the number of reported cases around the world increased significantly. This year, the number of cases reported so far has already exceeded last year's total, with more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths. PTI NSM SLB AS AS

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)