(Yicai Global) July 27 -- The Chinese government is putting more emphasis on early intervention in the fight against monkeypox as the country updates its guidelines for the prevention and control of the latest viral scourge amid a sudden jump in cases.

New sections on ‘how to identify monkeypox symptoms,’ ‘which groups of people are susceptible to the disease’ and ‘how to handle close contacts of the infected,’ have been added in the update to the 2022 version that was released by the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control and the National Health Commission yesterday.

The first imported case of monkeypox was detected on the mainland in September last year and there was a noticeable increase in the number of cases last month, with 106 new incidences of the disease reported between June 2 and June 30.

People with confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox must be quarantined in medical institutions for treatment, and those with mild symptoms should stay in self-imposed isolation at home, the guidelines said.

Those who have visited areas with a high incidence of the disease, have been exposed to people infected with the virus, have touched contaminated items belonging to sick people or have come in contact with infected animals should monitor themselves for 21 days under the supervision of medical institutions, it added.

Monkeypox originates from primates in the rainforests of central Africa and is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. Symptoms are similar to those of smallpox, but less severe, and include fever, aches and a rash of pus-filled boils. In most cases they will disappear on their own, after a period of between two and four weeks.

Although the transmission rate is low, severe symptoms or even deaths are possible and mostly occur to children, pregnant women and immunosuppressed people. The disease was mainly confined to Middle and West Africa before 2021 but the current outbreak, which started in May last year, is mostly among homosexuals.

Disease prevention and control agencies should apply similar methods to the ones they used to deal with AIDS and raise awareness in places where homosexuals like to go, such as clubs and bathing pools. They should disseminate knowledge on how to prevent and control the disease on mass media and social media platforms, the guidelines said.

The transmission rate of monkeypox is low, so the risk of an epidemic is low, and therefore compulsory vaccination is not necessary, Jin Dongyan, professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences at Hong Kong University’s Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, told Yicai Global.

But vaccines for people at high risk of contracting the virus can be introduced, a virologist said. The infected should not be discriminated against but should be encouraged to go to hospital.

Editor: Kim Taylor