Following the reporting of a second case of confirmed monkeypox in Kannur district of Kerala on July 18, Karnataka is gearing up to accelerate surveillance activities.
In a circular issued on Thursday following recommendations by the State’s COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), State Health Commissioner Randeep D. has asked all district hospitals to designate two beds each for isolation of suspected/confirmed cases.
Besides, the heads of all district hospitals have been asked to ensure adequate human resource and logistic support to manage such cases.
“All District Health Officers and District Surgeons should ensure that the health screening teams at all points of entry into the State, disease surveillance teams, and doctors working in hospitals are re-oriented on the common signs and symptoms, diagnosis, case definitions etc. of suspected/probable/confirmed cases and contacts. They should also be trained on contact tracing and other surveillance activities such as testing and other associated infection prevention and control protocols and clinical management that need to be undertaken following detection of a probable case,” the circular stated.
While all suspected cases at points of entry and in the community should be screened and tested through both hospital-based surveillance and targeted surveillance, a confirmed case should be isolated for at least 21 days and until all lesions have resolved and scabs have completely fallen off, the circular added.
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