The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, indicated that to date in Colombia there is a report of 11 cases of monkeypox, of which 10 originated outside the country. He also stated that Colombia is currently in a ‘containment phase’.
“Right now we are in a containment phase, which represents a very important opportunity for the country, given that the plan we have as a health entity has been to try to contain the epidemic as much as we can to prevent its spread throughout the community,” he said.
Also read: Monkeypox in Colombia: Authorities meet after declaration of global emergency
The official pointed out that since last May 30, the Ministry together with the National Institute of Health (INS), began the phase of intensified surveillance with monitoring of cases at the national level.
“Right now we have a fairly extensive diagnostic network, the diagnosis of the disease is made by molecular biology, by PCR test like the coronavirus, and that same network can support diagnosis. However, the INS central laboratory, five departmental public health laboratories and 12 laboratories from both the molecular biology network and the genomic network are already enabled, so that Colombians can rest assured that there is sufficient capacity to carry out the diagnosis. “, specific.
Minister Fernando Ruiz also said that with Migration Colombia, the protocol for entering the country has been established that allows identifying people who may have the disease; this in order to isolate as soon as possible. “The isolation of the disease is estimated at around 21 days, in the event that the disease is present, which is the phase in which there may be a greater risk of contagion “he detailed.
He also pointed out that “at this time the country’s EPS are being given the guidelines so that, within their care network, at least one reference center is designated for the care of people with this disease in order to do more. effective diagnosis and have rapid detection capacity of infected people.
Regarding monkeypox, he explained that “it is a disease that originated more than 50 years ago. It is a disease that recently began its circulation in Europe and the American Continent and is characterized by the presence of chickenpox-like lesions on the skin, which last between two and three weeks. The contagion fundamentally occurs through contact with the lesions, contact with fluids and also occurs through contact of sexual transmission.
You may be interested in: How is the water cut that affects 2 million people in the Aburrá Valley going?
He added that “it is a disease that has occurred in this last appearance due to low lethality, below 0.03 percent and it is a relatively low-contagion disease if one compares it with covid, which due to the nature of covid has a much higher contagion. higher. This is less contagious and less severe, therefore it does not represent a threat of the dimensions of covid, but obviously we do have evidence that in several countries such as Europe, Brazil, Peru, the United States, there is already community transmission.
