Deyalsingh: Airport screening to prevent entry of mpox virus

ALTHOUGH the mpox epidemic in Africa is a cause for concern, Trinidad and Tobago will not be banning travellers from the continent from entering the country.

Instead, passengers will be screened at airports and tested for the virus through the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha).

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh made the statement to reporters after the launch and model unveiling of the St Georges Luxury Apartment homes at Upper Mendes Drive, Champs Fleurs on August 17.

On August 15, asked if screening was being carried out at ports of entry, Deyalsingh said, “Nowhere screens for mpox at any airport anywhere in the world.”

In a recorded message, he said then, the typical signs and symptoms to look out for are flu-like symptoms, fever, rash, blisters, and it must be remembered that this virus is transmitted via close contact, especially close sexual contact, or contact with contaminated bed linens, crockery, etc.

In the event cases of mpox reach Trinidad and Tobago, there are vaccines to treat people and the isolation protocol is typically to isolate at home. People can be isolated at health facilities in isolation rooms, especially if they are severely ill.

On August 17, he said in 2022 type 2 mpox was circulating, but the current type1B was more worrying, as it was much more transmissible and a higher percentage of those infected were dying.

But he said there would be no “harsh public health measures,”  as experienced during the covid19 pandemic, since the socio-economic impact of such a move was difficult to recover from.

“What we have through Carpha, we are working with Caricom Impacs to enhance our surveillance, getting the advanced passenger manifest system, so that we can reach out to persons who have been to Africa and coming into the Caribbean.

"That is surveillance number one.

“Surveillance level number two is continued screening at the airport for people with fevers. After you screen, how do you test? Carpha has the testing capacity to test for mpox and then we have alerted doctors to signs and symptoms.

"And if anybody needs to be isolated in a public facility, we have Caura and other isolation rooms.”

On August 14, World Health Organization director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern owing to the upsurge of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other African countries. It was also declared a public health emergency of international concern from July 2022-May 2023.

Four mpox cases were treated locally in 2022.

At the time of the declaration, more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths had been reported for the year, which exceeded last year’s total.

The mpox strain which was present in 2022 was Clade 2, which was spread mainly through sexual contact between gay and bisexual men.

While mpox is on the horizon, dengue fever is still ravaging the country.

In its epidemiological update on August 16, the ministry said there were 825 laboratory-confirmed cases of dengue and eight deaths, which Deyalsingh said could already be classified as “a type of outbreak.”

“We have had more cases this year than the previous years since 2017 to now. The last time we had these types of numbers would have been 2014, 2017. So we are in an outbreak situation, but it’s difficult to project and predict where it is going to go.”

He said much was being done at the central and local government levels and encouraged people to do their part by cleaning their properties and properly covering or removing containers of clean, clear standing water.

He called on people to make use of the Couva and Sangre Grande hospitals, which were functioning as dengue early-detection centres, and to go in as early as possible for screening and treatment.

He said 176 people visited Couva Hospital between Monday and Friday and 16 were warded.

He added that a similar facility would be launched in St James early next week.