Brazil: Anvisa Offers a Guideline for Treating Monkeypox

One day after the confirmation of the first case of monkeypox in Brazil, as g1 exclusively shows, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) published Thursday a technical document with guidelines for the prevention and mitigation of the disease in hospitals, clinics and other health services that are providing care to suspected cases.

RELATED:
Brazil: Lula Is Infected With COVID-19 and Suspends Campaign

According to the Technical Note, it is recommended that these health services also prepare and implement a contingency plan to determine strategic actions for dealing with these possible cases and investigate the appearance of suspected or confirmed cases that may or may not come from the health service itself.

Among the primary prevention and control measures for monkeypox infection highlighted by Anvisa are: Minimum distance of 1 meter between patient beds; Isolation of infected patients until the "scabs" of the lesions have disappeared; If possible, accommodation of the suspected or confirmed case should preferably be in a private room with a closed door and well ventilated (air conditioning ensuring adequate exhaustion or open windows); Suspension of visitors and companions to reduce access of persons to those infected; Installation of physical barriers in suspected case detection areas; etc.

Also, according to the health agency, healthcare professionals should always use appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) when assisting patients and when touching products and surfaces that have been in contact with these individuals. "Whenever providing assistance at a distance of less than 1 meter or when entering the infected patient's room, an apron, gloves, and surgical mask should be worn, in addition to goggles or face shield," suggested Anvisa.

Since there are still no specific medical devices on the market for this type of virus, Anvisa also recommends that hospital waste be treated as a high-risk individual and moderate-risk community waste and that it be packaged in appropriate red bags.

The agency reported that, so far, it has received no applications for authorization for vaccines or drugs against smallpox or monkeypox.