The disease commonly known as monkeypox has been included on the list of diseases that must be reported.
In Guernsey, the illness commonly known as monkeypox has now been put on the list of communicable disorders that must be reported.
This is being done out of an abundance of caution since there have not been any confirmed instances of the disease in the Channel Islands up to this point.
On the other hand, there have been 321 confirmed instances in other parts of the British Isles, and the UK Health Security Agency has only just lately made it an illness that has to be reported there.
Experts in the field of public health argue that the danger is still manageable despite the fact that it can only be transmitted via intimate contact.
Fever, headache, muscular aches, chills, and weariness are just some of the symptoms that might be experienced.
The move, according to the Medical Officer of Health for Guernsey, Dr. Nicola Brink, will assist Public Health in managing any situations in the bailiwick, in the event that any islanders contract the illness: ” “If monkeypox is considered a notifiable illness and infection with the monkeypox virus are considered a notifiable infection, then health practitioners are required to notify the Medical Officer of Health if they seriously doubt a patient has monkeypox or if the monkeypox virus is found in a clinical sample.
We will be able to disrupt chains of transmission and administer vaccinations where appropriate if we handle cases and contacts in a timely and efficient manner.”
She went on to say that the current rise in reported cases all throughout Europe is an additional justification for exercising extreme caution: ” “Monkeypox is a viral virus that, up until quite recently, was often connected with travel to West Africa. However, since the beginning of May 2022, over one thousand instances of monkeypox have been recorded in numerous nations that are not endemic for the monkeypox virus. These countries include the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and the United States of America.
Investigations on the disease’s epidemiology are still underway; however, none of the cases that have been recorded so far have a traceable travel history that leads back to an endemic region. This is consistent with community transmission in numerous non-endemic nations in recent weeks, so we need to ensure that we are prepared, and making the illness reportable is a component of that.”