HCMC plans border temperature scanners to detect monkeypox

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Thursday requested the municipal Center for Disease Control (HCMC CDC) to use body temperature scanners at the city’s border gates and look for possible monkeypox symptoms among entrants.

Local medical centers would direct individuals suspected to be infected with monkeypox to hospitals and other health facilities, and their incidence would be reported to the HCMC CDC.

Possible monkeypox symptoms include unexplained rashes, headache, fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle pain, back pain and fatigue.

People who have had direct contact with infected patients or contaminated objects and people who have traveled to countries with monkeypox within 21 days before their first symptoms show up are considered to be at higher risk of contracting the disease.

A definite case of monkeypox can be confirmed with a Realtime PCR test.

Those who are infected need to be quarantined until they're cured. Those who travel to countries with monkeypox need to avoid contact with sick mammals and not consume wild or raw meat.

Monkeypox is a viral disease that can occur in certain animal species, including humans. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, headache and muscle pain, followed with rash and blisters. It is endemic in parts of west and central Africa, and until the recent outbreak, has only rarely been seen in other parts of the world.

As of Saturday, the WHO said there have been 200 confirmed cases and more than 100 suspected cases of monkeypox detected outside of countries where it usually circulates.

The European Union has confirmed 118 cases of monkeypox; the United Kingdom has confirmed 90 case; and the U.S. has confirmed nine cases.

Vietnam has not recorded any case so far.