Training for health officials to detect monkeypox to start today

The Health Ministry will today commence training laboratory staff from across the country to be able to detect and deal with the monkeypox disease in the event of an outbreak.
Only earlier in the week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a public health emergency.

However, on Wednesday, Minister Anthony stated that all measures are in place for the training.
“We organised a training for laboratory staff from different regions of Guyana to get them more acquainted with monkeypox: how to identify; how to diagnose; and when we diagnose, how to take samples, so we can do the PCR testing. So that training is going to happen tomorrow, and we have representatives from each of the regions who will be participating,” he explained.
At least four persons from each of the 10 Administrative Regions will be trained.
Minister Anthony further explained that the training will be done by a staff of the National Public Health Reference Lab who has already undergone training overseas to deal with the disease.
“The training will be done by one of our staff from the National Public Health Reference Lab who herself would have been trained by PAHO/WHO in Jamaica; so, she brings to Guyana that experience of how to do this testing, and what are protocols that we should be observing,” he said.
The training, he added, is not “long and complicated”, and will last only for a day.
Meanwhile, so far, Monkeypox has been detected in about 75 countries worldwide. To date, Guyana remains Monkeypox-free, despite cases having been detected in countries like Jamaica and Barbados.
Guyana has been building its capacity to detect Monkeypox using PCR machines and other skillsets to complement the current resource at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory.
The Chief Medical Officer would have issued instructions to doctors in the system to keep on high alert for signs that might be indicative of Monkeypox, and the steps to be taken in keeping with procedures.
Monkeypox would appear as a rash. From the time a person is exposed to the signs of infection, it would take approximately five to 13 days, but can continue for 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 hand, and soles of the feet, and the rest of the body.
It may be accompanied by headache, acute onset of fever, myalgia, back pain, asthenia, and lymphadenopathy. 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.