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.

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. 

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