JEDDAH: Health officials in Europe and America are sounding the alarm about the spread of monkeypox, with many declaring the outbreak a public health emergency.
In contrast, in Saudi Arabia, where only three cases have been confirmed, the response is more moderate.
Saudi experts say there are several reasons for the Kingdom’s reticent approach, including the presence of well-established surveillance, detection and prevention measures due to handling past infectious disease outbreaks, and the region’s extremely low transmission rate.
“We know that great efforts have been made, especially in the Gulf region and in Saudi Arabia, to document increasing cases and implement rigorous methods to detect them, and to ensure that appropriate preventive and curative measures are in place to address the prevent monkeypox from spreading, and treat it right away from a medical point of view,” said Dr. Nawaf Albali, a Saudi doctor, told Arab News.
“Countries should implement appropriate monitoring and surveillance standards at borders and increase screening, increase diagnostic capabilities within and outside borders.”
Once a relatively rare disease, monkeypox has been present in a handful of Central and West African countries since the 1970s, with occasional outbreaks of no more than 100 cases in the past four decades.
People with the disease tend to develop a rash that can be on or near the genitals or anus, and other areas such as the hands, feet, chest, face, or mouth.
The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing. It may initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
Other symptoms may include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches, backache, headache, sore throat, stuffy nose, or cough.
These symptoms usually begin within three weeks of exposure to the monkeypox virus and usually last for two to four weeks.
Authorities have discovered dozens of cases in Europe, North America and beyond since May, crossing the 28,000 case mark worldwide.
Symptoms of the self-limiting illness usually last two to four weeks. (Shutterstock)
The World Health Organization declared monkey pox a global health emergency on July 23. To date, there have been at least 75 suspected monkey pox deaths in Africa, mainly in Nigeria and Congo.
On July 29, Brazil and Spain both reported monkey pox-related deaths, the first to be reported outside Africa. Spain reported a second death the next day, and India reported the first on August 1.
Only three cases of monkey pox have been identified in Saudi Arabia among passengers returning from Europe.
Regionally, the UAE has 16 confirmed cases and Qatar has two – indicating a much slower spread compared to other parts of the world.
Monkeypox is transmitted when a person comes into contact with the virus of the same name from an animal, human or contaminated material.
It often spreads through skin-to-skin contact, and many, but not all, cases have been through physical relationships between men.
“The way it spreads is either through skin-to-skin contact, or through contact with certain bodily fluids, such as sweat, or exposure to sensitive parts of the body such as the genitals or genitals,” Albali said.
“This kind of contact and this kind of intimate contact are not that common (in the Gulf). It doesn’t mean they aren’t there, but they aren’t that common.”
Health officials in Europe and America are sounding the alarm about the spread of monkey pox. (AFP)
dr. Abdulaziz Al-Angari, assistant professor of epidemiology at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh, said that although the WHO has declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, it is not yet a pandemic.
“The infection rate is slow and limited given the virus transmission routes,” he told Arab News.
To calculate an odds ratio (a statistic that quantifies the strength of the association between two events), a sufficient number of cases must be taken into account. To date, there have been too few cases in the Kingdom to draw any conclusions.
“More detailed information on the cases, such as survey research (demographics, history, practices, travel information, etc.) is needed,” Al-Angari said.
Saudi Arabia and several other countries have taken the necessary steps to collect such real-time data and prevent its spread — lessons learned from past viral outbreaks.
In 2012, the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome caused by the MERS coronavirus was identified in Saudi Arabia.
Studies have shown that humans are infected through direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels, but the exact route of transmission remains unclear.
The experience led the Kingdom to develop detection and containment strategies and infrastructure, which sprang into action in 2020 when COVID-19 hit the ground running.
Registered pharmacist Sapna Patel demonstrates the preparation of a dose of monkeypox vaccine at a pop-up vaccination clinic. (AFP)
The Ministry of Health launched a command and control center and accelerated the establishment of the Saudi Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Our experience with MERS-CoV was painful and peculiar in our region, and between 2013 and 2015, health authorities understood the magnitude of disease prevention, lockdowns, market closures and certain commercial activities related to camels,” Albali said.
“So we understand the effectiveness of early intervention when it comes to disease control. We have developed that kind of capability and sense of urgency in the global health system.”
Al-Angari reiterated the importance of early detection and documenting cases: “Global health systems have developed critically in the areas of data collection, surveillance and tracking following the recent pandemic.
“With this, contact tracing is a must to prevent the imminent introduction of the virus to new populations.
“While it may not be necessary now, at some point it could be considered to use systems like the Tawakkalna app.”
The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence developed Tawakkalna to support the government’s efforts to cope with COVID-19 by managing the process of granting permits to leave home during the lockdown phase, which helped to limit the spread of the virus.
In June, the app received the UN Public Service Award 2022 for institutional resilience and innovative responses to the pandemic.
According to Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Angari, assistant professor of epidemiology at KSAU-HS, understands the Kingdom’s effectiveness in early intervention when it comes to disease control. (Delivered)
With travel demand skyrocketing following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Al-Angari underlined the importance of entry checkpoints.
“Since the (monkeypox) virus is transmitted from person to person, all necessary measures must be taken,” he said.
“Thermal camera activation is necessary at all times, not just for this disease but for all future diseases, and random health screening of people in regular contact with animals is important to prevent zoonoses.”
As in the early days of COVID-19, infrared cameras placed in airport arrivals areas are an integral part of the syndromic surveillance process – a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting health-related data to provide early warnings of health threats.
“Once a camera detects any of the symptoms of the disease (such as elevated body temperature), the case will be isolated at the airport and as part of Saudi Arabia’s preventive measures, other individuals who may have been exposed to the case should also be removed. tested,” said Albali.
“That’s how the cases were discovered and an investigation was started afterwards, with no other cases being discovered so far.”
In addition to surveillance, health authorities should provide adequate information and guidance for travelers going to countries considered to be monkey pox hotspots, Albali said.
“The most important lesson learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing community awareness about the virus and how to protect themselves,” he said.
“The same rule of thumb now applies to this current outbreak, even though it has barely left a mark on our shores in Saudi Arabia, and with the health authorities’ transparent communication strategy, the level of awareness will continue to increase and further protect the community from future outbreaks .”
A vaccine against monkeypox has been launched in the US, UK, Denmark, Spain, Germany, France and Canada, among others.
However, it is unlikely to be spread in Saudi Arabia unless it is necessary to protect the most vulnerable, such as children, the elderly and immunocompromised people.
“Vaccinations can be implemented,” Al-Angari said. “However, I don’t see it coming anytime soon, because it’s not a current threat, at least (not) in this region.”
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