V.K. Paul Task Force: Following the discovery of cases of monkeypox in India, the Union government constituted a task force to monitor and provide guidance on the expansion of diagnostic facilities and to explore vaccination against the infection in the country.
Key Points:
- The team will be headed by V.K. Paul, member (Health), NITI Aayog.
- India has reported six confirmed cases of monkeypox so far.
- Four cases were confirmed in Kerala and two in Delhi.
- Himachal Pradesh's health department has also detected a person with symptoms similar to monkeypox in Solan`s Baddi.
- The patient's samples have been sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 18,000 cases have been reported from 78 countries.
About Monkeypox:
- Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses that causes smallpox.
- According to WHO, the disease is endemic in regions like West and Central Africa, but lately, cases have been reported from non-endemic countries too.
Symptoms:
- Monkeypox typically starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever and rashes are formed 1-4 days later.
- The monkeypox rashes started as raised spots that slowly turn into small blisters that are either hard and round or filled with pus or fluid.
- These blisters eventually dry up and fall off and a fresh layer of skin is formed.
The symptoms are -
- Fever
- Swollen Lymph Nodes
- Rash
- Skin Lesions
- Muscle Aches
- Chills
How is Monkeypox transmitted?
Monkeypox is transmitted from person-to-person through close contact.
It gets transmitted usually through following modes-
- Direct contact with skin lesions or body fluids of an infected person
- Sharing of personal items like bedding or clothing of an infected person
- Prolonged exposure to an infected person's respiratory secretions
- Monkeypox can also spread from animals to people through bites and scratches or use of meat from an infected animal.
It generally lasts for about 2-4 weeks until all rashes are healed, all scabs have fallen off and fresh layer of skin has formed.
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