Hospitality Sector gets advice on Monkey Pox

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, August 20, 2022 – As this new outbreak pushes the parameters of what the world thought it knew about Monkeypox, Dr. Jeremy Myers, Deputy Chief Medical Officer when questioned about how one can protect from contracting this new health threat, had advice for the hospitality.

“General disinfectants have been proven to be effective and what we call barrier methods which would be wearing gloves or disposable aprons— if you keep those kinds of interaction as brief as possible and wash your hands in between, wearing gloves etc. would definitely reduce the chance of you getting infected” he said.

Turks and Caicos has detected one suspected case so far.  It was imported and the individual was asked to self-isolate.  At this time, the British overseas territory is ill-equipped, though eager to be able to do so, to test and confirm any cases of MonkeyPox.

“We can’t test for it locally so it is for each and every person to take all necessary precautions,” he explained.  Adding, “Some of the equipment that we already gained from Covid with modified reagents and equipment can be used to test for Monkeypox but because this is the latest public health emergency as you can imagine these resources are very limited and in high demand across the world so we are working aggressively to try and bargain for our piece to increase our capacity to test for Monkeypox.”

Currently there are over 35,000 known cases of MonkeyPox worldwide.

The rash that characterizes Monkeypox has changed in some cases during this outbreak.  Instead of starting on the face and spreading outwards after it has often begun in areas other than the face (e.g., genital, perianal, the mouth) in some patients, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the lesions have been scattered or localized to a specific body site rather than diffused like usual and many have not involved the face or extremities.

Regardless, Myers reminded that one needed prolonged exposure to the virus to contract it and there were precautions that could reduce the risk especially for those handling sheets etc.

There are also symptoms to look out for including:

Few lesions or even a single lesion

-Absence of skin lesions in some cases, with anal pain and rectal bleeding

-Lesions in the genital or perineal/perianal area that do not spread to other areas of the body

-Lesions appearing at different stages of development (asynchronous)

-The appearance of lesions before fever, malaise, and other systemic symptoms (absence of

prodromal period)

In the meantime and while no timeline was given for when testing for Monkeypox would be up and running in the Turks and Caicos, the acting Health Minister, E Jay Saunders offered that the Ministry was operating on a basis that the virus would eventually make its way to the TCI because of the country’s proximity to several hotspots for the virus including Florida and due to the nature of tourism.

The team, he said at an August 8 press conference, is working aggressively to expand testing capability. Until then quarantine of suspected cases of the rapidly spreading disease will be the action in order to minimize impact.