Belize steps up preparedness in the event of MonkeyPox lands on Belizean soil

Health officials in Belize are stepping up its preparedness in the event of the arrival of MPox, formerly known as Monkey Pox.  The disease has been labelled a health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) with two variants posing varying degrees of symptoms.  The new Clade 1b variant is the one spreading through Africa, but yet to be detected in the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean or Belize.  Love News understands that there have been confirmed cases of the Clade II variant in Mexico, but the National Committee for Epidemiological Defense has issued a warning about a possible mpox outbreak in the country.  For Belize, Minister of Health and Wellness, Kevin Bernard, says the authorities are keeping watch and are already equipped with the vaccination and testing machinery.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “Remember, we as a ministry, we are constantly ensuring that surveillance is done on every issue, every epidemiological issue that may arise. And Monkeypox has come out, I think, over a year now. If you’re asking me, we do have Monkeypox vaccines in stock just in case. But when you look at the recommendations, including CARPHA, all they’re saying is that to continue to ensure that your surveillance is up, we are doing that. We have in-country ability to test for monkeypox, and so I am very confident that our people at the ministry are prepared and ready. I don’t want to be sounding as an alarmist because at the end of the day what is being said is something that I think is in Sweden. We at the Ministry, however, are ensuring that we keep everything ready so that if there’s any need we are going to be prepared enough to be able to address whatever issues that may come.”

Belize’s Ministry of Health and Wellness has also begun re-sensitizing healthcare workers as well as its surveillance and border teams.  MPox can first cause fever, then intense headaches, inflamed lymph nodes, back aches and lack of energy, as well as small blisters on the skin can form three to five days after infection.  It is a zoonotic disease which means it can be spread from vertebrate animals to humans. According to the Center for Disease Control, it can also pass from person to person through physical contact with more human-to-human transmissions reported since 2016.