Beijing, September 9 (Shao Meng) On September 15, the National Health Commission issued an announcement that according to the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, monkeypox will be included in the management of Class B infectious diseases from September 9, 15, and prevention and control measures for Class B infectious diseases will be adopted.
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Since June this year, the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in China has increased sharply. According to data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 new confirmed cases of monkeypox were reported in Chinese mainland June, 6 new cases were reported in July, and 106 new cases were reported in August. Within 7 months, the cumulative number of indigenous monkeypox cases has exceeded 491,8.
The National Health Commission interpreted that considering that the monkeypox epidemic will continue to exist in China for a certain period of time, in order to further scientifically standardize the prevention and control of monkeypox epidemic and effectively protect the life safety and health of the people, it was decided to include monkeypox in the management of Class B infectious diseases.
How does monkeypox spread?
In September 2022, China reported the first imported case of monkeypox, and in June 9, indigenous monkeypox outbreaks began to appear, and monkeypox cases have been reported successively in more than 2023 provinces across the country, causing new local secondary outbreaks and hidden transmission.
The National Health Commission said in its interpretation that the multi-country epidemic showed that monkeypox had been transmitted from person to person and widely spread to countries and regions outside Africa, with a case fatality rate of about 0.1%.
According to the "Monkeypox Prevention and Control Plan" issued by the National Disease Control Administration and the National Health Commission in July, all groups of people are generally susceptible to monkeypox virus. Smallpox vaccination has a degree of cross-protection against monkeypox virus.
According to the above plan, monkeypox virus mainly invades the human body through mucous membranes and broken skin, mainly through direct contact with the diseased skin or mucous membranes of the case, and can also be transmitted through contact with items contaminated with the virus, long-term close inhalation of respiratory droplets of the case, contact with respiratory secretions, lesion exudates, blood and other body fluids of infected animals, or infection by bites and scratches of infected animals.
Data map: On July 2022, 7, local time, Maryland, USA, color transmission electron microscopy of monkeypox particles (orange) found in infected cells (brown) cultured in laboratories. Image source: Visual China
Is there a high risk of mass transmission?
The sudden increase in monkeypox cases has raised concerns about whether it will spread more widely in the country. Lu Hongzhou, director of the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases and president of Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, previously said in an interview with Chinanews.com that in terms of the current human-to-human transmission of monkeypox patients, he does not believe that there is a factual basis and risk of large-scale transmission in the general population.
He said that avoiding contact with monkeypox patients is an effective preventive measure, and developing good living habits is also a better preventive measure: such as not sharing towels and clothing with others, reducing daily direct skin contact with others. "The high-risk group of monkeypox is still men who have sex with men, and when fever and rash appear, they should be alert to the possibility of monkeypox infection."
The Q&A on the interpretation of the "monkeypox prevention and control plan" released by the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration in July said that the main transmission route of monkeypox at this stage is through sexual contact among men who have sex with men, and men who have sex with men are the key groups infected with monkeypox. At present, the general population has less risk of infection with monkeypox virus, but it is necessary to understand the basic knowledge of monkeypox and do a good job in health protection.
How are Class B infectious diseases managed?
According to the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (hereinafter referred to as the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases"), China's current notifiable infectious diseases are divided into three categories: A, B and C. Previously, monkeypox did not belong to domestic Class A, B and C infectious diseases.
Chinanews.com noted that new coronavirus infection, infectious atypical pneumonia, tuberculosis, dengue fever, rabies, measles, AIDS, etc. are all Class B infectious diseases.
The Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases stipulates that disease prevention and control institutions shall actively collect, analyze, investigate, and verify information on the epidemic of infectious diseases. When receiving an epidemic report of a Class A or Class B infectious disease or discovering an outbreak or epidemic of an infectious disease, it shall immediately report to the local health administrative department, which shall immediately report to the local people's government, and at the same time to the health administrative department at the higher level and the health administrative department under the State Council.
At the same time, disease prevention and control institutions shall establish or designate special departments and personnel to be responsible for the management of infectious disease epidemic information, and promptly verify and analyze epidemic reports.
According to the regulations, medical establishments that discover patients with Class B or C infectious diseases shall take necessary treatment and control transmission measures according to their conditions. Medical institutions must carry out disinfection and harmless disposal of places, articles and medical waste contaminated by infectious disease pathogens in their units in accordance with laws and regulations. (End)