Filenews 16 December 2024 - by Marilena Panayi
Vaccination in the first 4 to 5 days after contact and 21-day quarantine provides for the protocol for contact management, of a person who developed symptoms of monkeypox, while for patients the treatment is symptomatic since there are no specialized drugs.
The monkeypox case, which was diagnosed at Nicosia hospital, is the sixth recorded in Cyprus since 2022, when the outbreak of the disease occurred internationally, Director of Medical Services Elizabeth Constantinou told Filenews.
The patient's state of health, Constantinou said, is progressing smoothly and indicated that "there are the necessary protocols which are being followed."
Immediately after the diagnosis, Constantinou said, the tracing team was activated to identify the people with whom the patient came into contact and added that for contacts of patients with monkeypox, vaccination within the first 4-5 days and a restriction of 21 days is indicated.
For patients, he explained, "management is symptomatic because there are no specialized drugs. For rashes, preparations are given if the person has fever, antipyretics, etc."
"There is no reason to worry at the moment," Health Minister Michalis Damianos said. "All necessary measures are being taken. There is nothing new to say, we have had six cases in Cyprus so far. All the necessary actions have been taken, contact tracing is taking place, we have the appropriate vaccines and there are definitely protocols that we are following."
It is reminded that the patient hospitalized at Nicosia General Hospital is a Cypriot with a recent travel history.
Monkeypox is one of the viral infections included in the weekly reports of the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC).
In its report for the past week, ECDC says that no significant difference has been observed in the detection of incidents within the European territory. Last week, cases were reported in African countries but also in Germany, India, the UK, Sweden, the US and Thailand.
