Monkeypox : Take Care, Don't Scare

Behaving responsibly and avoiding stigmatisation could contain monkeypox

- Rekha Dixit

Decisions and announcements might well be outpacing the speed at which monkeypox is spreading. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared it a “public health emergency of international concern’’. More than 75 countries from five regions in the world have reported 17,000 cases of this zoonotic viral infection in 2022. This does make it an ‘outbreak’ although, despite the geographical spread, it is still not a ‘pandemic’’. India has four confirmed cases—three in Kerala, one in New Delhi.

With the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is now clear that in a globally connected world, local outbreaks can spread within days to different parts of the world. Despite every check, like screening of passengers, the infection will spread, though its speed can be curtailed. For instance, a traveller in the pre-clinical stage of infection may not exhibit symptoms. Again, the very measures that are supposed to stop the spread of infection may induce people not to reveal too many details that could hamper their travel plans, or worse, put them under prolonged quarantine.