Monkeypox testing is done once there’s a need – CMO ag

The health authorities have been casting a wide net where it concerns testing for the monkeypox virus.

When contacted this week for an update on the virus that has been rearing its head in many countries across the globe, Acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Roger Duncan noted that there is a wide case definition for monkeypox in terms of people who will be eligible to be a suspect case.

“Why we need to do that is that we don’t want to make it too tight so that we could miss positive cases because if we adhere too strictly to the criteria for what a suspect case is, we could miss cases,” Duncan said.

“And that is done standard in any epidemic or any outbreak that initially the case definition is very loose so that you have a wider net to catch more people and then, with that, you’re likely to catch people who are negative as well as positive,” he added.

The acting CMO confirmed that between August 4 and August 31, there have been 10 tests. These were of persons with travel history and without travel history presenting with varying symptoms such as a rash, fever, malaise and nausea.

However, as at the morning of August 31, nine of the tests were negative while one was pending.

“We just have to get used to the idea that every day, just like with the SARS-CoV-2 testing daily – that once there is a need, monkeypox testing will be done also on a daily basis,” Duncan said while commenting on pending tests.

Some symptoms of monkeypox may be: a rash, fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches and backache, headache and respiratory symptoms.

If a person suspects themselves as having the virus, the acting CMO explained that the course of action would be to “immediately get in contact with your healthcare provider, whether that’s a private provider or a public provider.”

He said that the healthcare provider will ask many questions including on travel history, where the rash is, what it looks like, whether there has been contact with any other persons with a similar rash, and then make arrangements for testing.

“We’re working close with colleagues in private practice so if they don’t have the testing capacity we would provide what they need, the testing supplies, and if they’re not comfortable with that then our people would be able to go to them to have the sample collected,” Duncan said.

Asked what the procedure is if a monkeypox case is confirmed, the acting CMO explained that the public would be informed and that person would go into isolation.

“Of course monkeypox – it’s not transmitted for instance like chickenpox, or like measles, or like SARS-COV 2. It requires prolonged exposure, close contact,” he noted.

They would then, “ask them to get us their list of persons with whom they have been in close contact and we will notify these people to say that you might have been exposed or you have been exposed to someone with monkeypox and your instructions are to remain in quarantine and that quarantine period will be 14 days.”