The Minister of Health, María Begoña Yarza, discussed how to diagnose monkeypox, this, after Argentine health authorities confirmed the first case of the disease in the country.
After being consulted about the method of detection, Yarza indicated that “it is not coronavirus, it is not Covid, we cannot act in a similar way, but we have learned things and indeed since the communication was made by the WHO, what we have fact is to install a robust surveillance system, with immediate notification at any point of the public and private healthcare network throughout the national territory”.
Said surveillance system “is anchored not only by the registration and notification process, but also by the information, instructions, regulations to be able to detect and see which are the suspicious cases with which the professionals of the healthcare network have to take, notify and initiate studies,” he said.
Along the same lines, the Secretary of State reported that monkeypox is diagnosed by PCR.
“This is installed and we are managing the last details so that if we find a case, what we are thinking is that we are going to look for a health center, where we have all the isolation measures and we are going to make it known, I think that the next week,” he said.
“Today we can say that in Chile we can diagnose the simic rubella or monkey disease,” he added.
Regarding the symptoms, Yarza explained that there is fever, skin lesions, myalgia, “and if someone has that, they have to go to an emergency service or call.”
“The form we have is a support network that is robust, that has the information, detection and diagnosis capacity,” he concluded. .
