The Ministry of Public Health: A Strategic Plan to Confront Monkeypox

The Ministry of Public Health, represented by the Department of Health Prevention and Infectious Diseases, issued a strategic plan to confront monkeypox that was circulated to all health professionals working in health facilities in the State of Qatar, stressing all health care facilities to be vigilant in order to triage and early identification of any suspected case for immediate isolation. The circular includes a brief about the disease, its symptoms, ways of spreading it, and the mechanism of dealing in the event of discovering any confirmed case, and immediately reporting any case whose symptoms match the symptoms indicative of the disease.

The plan included an overview of the start of the spread of monkeypox, as the United Kingdom reported on May 7, 2022, the first confirmed case of monkeypox, of a man with a travel history from Nigeria, who appeared on the case with a rash on April 29, 2022 and was immediately isolated when suspected of being infected. In the monkeys wall, and on the 13th of this month, 2022, two additional confirmed cases and one possible case from the same family were reported, as no epidemiological link was found between the first case or the date of travel, based on current investigations.

As of May 21, 2022, 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases have been reported in 12 countries, spread over Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, and Belgium. Not related to travel, no deaths have been reported.

The circular issued by the Ministry of Public Health indicated that there are a number of affected countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

With regard to the prevention of infection risks, the Ministry of Health provided some advice, namely:

Bedding and clothing should be washed in hot water (above 600°C) in a washing machine. The house should be cleaned regularly The interior of the car should be cleaned, using a HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner Hard surfaces should be cleaned with cleaners similar to those used in hospitals, followed by disinfection with 1,000 ppm of available chlorine.

The Ministry of Public Health called for the need to report any illness during travel or upon return from an affected area to a health professional, including information about travel history and recent vaccinations, and residents and travelers to affected countries should avoid getting close to animals as much as possible.

It should be noted that monkeypox is a rare, zoonotic viral disease that is primarily endemic to the tropical rainforest regions of Central and West Africa. The virus usually presents clinically with fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes and may lead to a range of medical complications. Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease. Its symptoms last from 2 to 4 weeks, recently, the mortality rate among cases was about 3- 6%