The Ministry of Health highlighted, in a statement, that it decided to reactivate the National Contingency Plan for the Control of Monkey Smallpox as a precautionary measure to implement prevention actions and rapid response to a probable outbreak of the disease.
The plan includes epidemiological surveillance measures such as early detection of suspected cases and identification of contacts and assessment of the evolution of the epidemic, as well as the effectiveness of control measures.
Monkeypox (Monkeypox) is a virus transmitted to humans from monkeys and rodents that manifests itself through fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, generalized rashes (skin lesions), having an incubation period from 5 to 21 days.
Among preventive measures, the ministry advises frequent hand washing; do not hunt or eat the meat of monkeys and rodents (rats, mice and squirrels); avoid direct exposure to the meat and blood of these animals; and avoid physical contact with people who show the signs and symptoms mentioned above, as well as materials and utensils used by them.
"The Ministry of Health reiterates its commitment to maintaining sanitary borders inviolable and calls on society for vigilance, calm and serenity in the certainty that everything will be done to ensure that Monkey Pox does not reach our country", the statement added.
In May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned of the risk of a more deadly version of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRCongo), calling for urgent global action.
According to the agency, during 2023 and until May, around 19,900 cases of Clade I, the deadliest version of the virus, were registered in 25 of the 26 provinces of DRCongo, resulting in at least 975 deaths.
The CDC called for urgent global action to help the African country in its efforts to contain the virus, as the deadly strain is feared to spread to other countries, Spanish news agency EFE reported at the time.
Thousands of people were infected with the disease in 2022 around the world, especially homosexual and bisexual men, with the CDC declaring that, currently, "a more deadly version of monkeypox is ravaging the DRCongo".
