Guyana has capacity to test for monkeypox – Dr Anthony

…section of Ocean View facility repurposed to treat any detected case

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony has outlined that Guyana has the capacity and the necessary equipment to conduct testing for monkeypox.

The country has been preparing both human resources and medical supplies after cases were detected in the Region. Confirmatory testing can be carried out at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory.
Dr Anthony commented on Thursday, “We have the reagents, the equipment, so we can be able to do that at the National Public Health Reference Lab. Today, we have training that is going on. What we have done is take laboratory and medical personnel from all the regional hospitals, who have been involved in this training so that if they do have a case, they would have the right techniques of how to take the sample, how to store the sample, and transport it to the laboratory.”
To this end, he said Government was prepared should a case be detected. With 17 to 18 per cent of monkeypox cases requiring hospitalisation, the health official said a section of the Infectious Diseases Hospital has been repurposed to host patients as a precautionary and preparatory measure.
Reports of monkeypox detected in Brazil have already caught the attention of local authorities. The Health Minister underscored that many cases have surfaced within the past week as this new epidemic persists.
“Brazil has reported monkeypox for a while now. It is not their first case. In fact, the total cases that they have reported is 696 cases and over the last seven days, Brazil would have had 312 new cases. Brazil is one of those countries where a number of cases have been recorded and around us, Venezuela has recorded a case.”
Jamaica, Bermuda, Barbados, the Bahamas and Martinique are the Caribbean countries to report monkeypox. Dr Anthony pointed out that it was a situation which required attention.
“We are seeing cases circulating in the Region and we have to be cognisant of that. We have also seen, in the Americas, about 5412 cases total…This is something that we have to pay a lot of attention to and trying to make sure that it is contained,” he relayed.
If a person contracts monkeypox, healthcare authorities can extract epidemiological findings when the case is reviewed.
Dr Anthony detailed, “A person that presents with monkeypox, we can gather the history of that person. Most of these persons would have travelled to a place where they might have been in very close contact with someone who was infected. Travel history is very important when reviewing these cases. Secondly, what is becoming very clear is that there’s certain epidemiological features that are coming out from the data that we have.”
Monkeypox would appear as a rash. Approximately five to 13 days can pass between infection and the appearance of the first signs of infection, but that period can last up to 21 days.
The acute skin rash may be present with maculopapular (flat based lesions) to vesicles (fluid-filled blisters), pustules, and subsequent crusting affecting the face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet and the rest of the body.
The rash may be accompanied by headaches, acute onset of fever, myalgia, back pain, asthenia and lymphadenopathy. The monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.
Presently, antiretroviral treatment is used, but it is not widely available around the world. Guyana is also making attempts to procure some smallpox vaccines, which have been used to treat monkeypox.