Bahrain health chiefs have been quick to allay fears of an outbreak of monkeypox cases as the UAE registered its first carrier, with several other suspected cases being investigated in the region.
No stringent measures such as lockdowns are being considered and members of the public have been urged not to ‘stigmatise’ any region or race.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) officials outlined their confidence in Bahrain’s ‘being prepared’ approach to the emerging zoonotic disease which they consider currently as being of a ‘low public risk’.
“Reports of monkeypox cases in non-endemic countries are a stark reminder that the world will continue to face outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases,” EMRO regional director Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari told the GDN.
“The key lesson is that countries need to continue strengthening and investing in their preparedness.
“Bahrain has really developed a very strong system even before Covid-19 and have had many success stories.
“They have activated the ABCs of public health when it comes to such outbreaks, regardless of the size of the outbreak, either within the region, or at a global level – so I’m not really worried about the steps that Bahrain will take.”
The GDN reported on Tuesday that Bahrain had pre-emptive measures in place in a bid to avert any outbreak as the Health Ministry confirmed that there were no reported cases of monkeypox in the kingdom.
Dr Al Mandhari said the regional office was focussing on strengthening the essential element of preparedness for all emergencies. He added that decisions will be based on analysis and evidence from the ground and will gather momentum depending on the impact of the disease globally.
“Our key priority right now is to stop transmission – we are now in a much stronger position to do this as a result of our responses to Covid-19 over the past two-and-a-half-years, which has improved our capacity in the areas of surveillance and laboratory diagnosis allowing us to more effectively identify and confirm cases before the virus spreads further.
“This is indeed a very rich experience that will be utilised to counter this disease. At this point monkey pox is containable in our region and, in my opinion, the risk to the public is low.”
Monkeypox transmits through close physical contact with someone who has been infected with a virus. “This means that health workers, household members and sexual partners are at greater risk. Most people who are infected recover within a few weeks without treatment.”
MRO programme director Dr Rana Hajjeh added that immunological diseases are dealt with the same way. “Covid-19 was a respiratory disease that turned into a pandemic – from our perspective, and from the data we have, monkeypox is not expected to spread like it,” she said.
“WHO does not recommend lockdown or isolation like during Covid-19 because the disease is fairly contained and currently, we are emphasising on how to limit the transmission to other countries and among people. But let us not stigmatise specific communities or areas.”
WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) Infection Hazards Prevention Manager Dr Abdinasir Abubakar highlghted the symptoms of the disease – fever, rashes, tiredness.
He added that WHO is studying the possible human transmission of the pox from animals, especially rodents.
“This is the biggest outbreak, outside endemic countries since the disease was discovered and so far, we don’t know why we’re seeing more cases among humans. WHO is working with member states and affected countries and labs to better understand this,” he added.
The virus has not changed genetically, as confirmed through gene sequencing, explained Dr Abubakar. “And, that’s good news, because that means there’s no mutation.”
He reassured that ‘countries in the region were ready’ to combat monkeypox, with procedures recommended by the EMRO to be followed.
There were 157 total confirmed cases of monkeypox globally, as of yesterday.
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