BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
THE Ministry of Health and Medical Service says it is possible Solomon Islands may record monkeypox following two cases reported in Australia.
Dr Yogesh Choudhri, Technical Advisor to Ministry of Health, stated this.
“The new infection worries the Ministry,” Choudhri said.
“We have seen that two cases have been reported in Australia and other parts of the world are also reporting the cases so it is possible that we might get a case from one of these countries,” he added.
Choudhri said at the moment the ministry is keeping a closer eye on this new disease.
“We are making sure that we have the diagnostic capability here, we need to procure the reagent.
“So our lab has already started the process,” Choudhri said.
He said that individuals who may come from countries that records monkeypox or exposed to monkeypox and likely to develop monkeypox symptoms like body rush with blister all over the body, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle ache must immediately report to the ministry so that they can launch proper investigations to see if it is monkeypox or not
“So keep a close watch on that,” Choudhri said.
He adds in terms of prevention there is already a vaccine for it but is not yet available here.
“So we encouraged the use of mask to protect you from contracting this new infection that can be spread via droplets,” Choudhri said.
