What's the monkeypox plan?

Last week, TT recorded two cases of monkeypox (mpox). The Ministry of Health has launched an epidemiology investigation into the infections and initiated a public health response, inclusive of home isolation and contact tracing for the two patients.

Contact tracing, which maps the recent history of patients, is critical to establishing possible contact points of infection and understanding the points of entry of the virus into TT.

In July 2022, when the global outbreak of mpox was announced, the Health Minister declared the country ready for the virus. The virus spreads through touch and intimate contact. It can also be transmitted via respiratory droplets. Key to controlling the spread of the virus is proper hygiene, which TT had an extended two-year course in adopting during pandemic restrictions.

Most people will recover from mpox in two to four weeks and treatment is generally palliative, to ease pain and discomfort. More severe symptoms may occur in patients who are pregnant, children and the immunocompromised. For some particularly vulnerable patients, the symptoms can prove fatal. The Ministry of Health must now ramp up its response to mpox and properly identify how the virus entered the country. Will there be testing for the virus at ports of entry? The Tobago House of Assembly announced its own plans to act on Thursday after meeting with the Tobago Regional Health Authority, promising to ramp up a "robust and proactive" response to the infection. The THA's initiative will proceed in alignment with the protocols for healthcare providers, businesses, tourism stakeholders and Port Health that were established after the WHO declared mpox a matter of international concern.

By May, the WHO had downgraded its ranking of the virus, but with two mpox infections verified within two days, this country should be preparing an effective response with more apparent vigour. Understanding this virus, its infection pattern and what prophylactic measures should be taken is information that should be readily available to the population to limit potential spread. After the hard lessons of 2020-2023, when the pandemic severely tested the public health sector, it's reasonable to expect an experienced, thorough and robustly scientific response to the established presence of the mpox virus in the local population. Mpox infection is mostly annoying and painful, but it must be managed with the authority we have come to expect of the public health sector, inclusive of infection vector tracking and an official insistence on proper home self-isolation and quarantine practices.

Mpox vaccines should be sourced and made available to sectors of the community which are likely to be either vulnerable or vectors of infection. The global mpox emergency may be over, but TT must ensure that these preliminary signals of spread do not spiral out of control.