Five incidents have been identified in Cyprus from 2022 until today.
The competent medical services are on alert to deal with any case of monkey pox (mpox) detected in Cyprus, although the risk of such a thing is very low, the Director of Medical Services and Public Health Services, Elisavet Constantinou, told KYPE. He said that in Cyprus from 2022 until today, five incidents were detected.
“We as the Ministry of Health are evaluating our preparedness, that is, we are studying all the available resources we have and updating our protocols. We value our preparation on a daily basis, we deal with the matter. As soon as there is an alarm in a public health event, an emergency, we are obliged to deal. In Cyprus from 2022 until today we have had only five incidents”, he said.
He added that “we are on alert, we are waiting, and we are preparing regardless of the fact that the risk is very low. We participate in all the meetings of the competent bodies of the ECDC of the World Health Organization on a daily basis”, he pointed out.
Mrs. Constantinou mentioned that vaccinations can be done at the adult vaccination centers on a daily basis in all cities and when someone wishes to get this vaccine it is available.
She also said that there are some suggestions and recommendations to the travelers who will visit countries where there is an outbreak of this disease which are countries in Africa.
“We recommend their vaccination before visiting these countries and in addition they take care to avoid contact and communication with people who they seem to have rashes and may have the disease,” he noted.
When asked, she said that “we also have pharmaceutical preparations, we have a stock, we also have a sufficient stock of vaccines that are in force”. Microbiology Laboratory and the Institute of Neurology and Genetics – which are in place and are already carrying out tests.
“Based on the ECDC risk assessment carried out there is a very small chance for EU citizens who have not traveled or they do not intend to travel to areas where there is an outbreak of the disease to manifest the disease. The risk is very low”, he noted.
Vulnerable people, the downtrodden, the elderly, people with long-term illnesses should pay more attention, he stressed. “They should avoid contact with people who are either diagnosed and may have the disease, avoid going to places where there is a crowd of people and use individual protective measures such as hand washing, etc.” complete.
