According to Dr. Pargya Yadav, Covid has taught us to be alert during an outbreak until we are certain of the disease’s outcome.
NEW DELHI: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox, a zoonotic viral illness that has been documented in more than 100 nations, including India, continues to be a serious global health issue.
The International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee’s third meeting was when the WHO made its announcement regarding the multi-nation viral illness outbreak. The term public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) is used by the WHO to denote the need for a coordinated international response that involves both raising money and sharing vaccinations and treatments.
The National Institute of Virology, Pune (NIV)-Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMRleading )’s researcher, Dr. Pargya Yadav, claims that India is ready and has already trained Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) facilities to test samples for monkeypox.
Twenty instances of monkeypox, including one fatality, have been documented in India. Delhi recorded the highest number of instances with 14 monkeypox cases, while Kerala reported six cases—all of which had travelled from the UAE—including the death of a young person.
Dr. Yadav, who has successfully isolated the monkeypox virus from a patient’s clinical specimen, opening the door for the development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, commented on WHO’s decision to continue to declare monkeypox a global health emergency: In this situation when monkeypox virus is showing mutation, it is important to keep monitoring and do the testing and sequencing for suspected cases.
Covid taught us to be attentive during an outbreak until we are certain of the disease’s endgame, according to Dr. Yadav, who led the team that produced Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine.
As of October 31, there were 77,092 cases documented worldwide in 106 nations, with 36 reported fatalities.
According to the WHO, the Emergency Committee acknowledged that some progress had been made since the last meeting in the international response to the multi-country monkeypox outbreak, including the emerging information about the effectiveness of immunizations and behavioural therapies. The number of cases across the world have decreased, according to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. For eight weeks in a row, fewer cases have been reported. This is incredibly uplifting.
Despite the meeting’s acknowledgement of some improvement, it was agreed that the Public Health Emergency of International Concern should persist.
The fast-expanding monkeypox outbreak was declared a global health emergency by the WHO in July.
Monkeypox instances have been documented in non-endemic nations since early May 2022, and they have continued to be recorded in a number of endemic nations.
Most confirmed patients with travel histories cited trips to Europe and North America, as opposed to West or Central Africa, where the monkeypox virus is common.
For the first time, several monkeypox cases and clusters in both endemic and non-endemic nations across diverse geographic regions have been documented at the same time.
The majority of instances that have been documented thus far have been discovered through sexual health or other medical services at basic or secondary healthcare facilities. According to WHO, they have primarily, though not always, involved males who have intercourse with men.