2024-08-21 10:53:28
Health Minister Francisco Alabi said that one of the strategies being implemented is surveillance at land and air border points, particularly because some countries in the Americas have already reported the first cases of infection.
“It is important to remember that we are dealing with a zoonotic disease, but also an endemic one, so we are taking care of it and taking measures. We are monitoring the land borders and the airport,” said the official.
He added that the cases being reported come from clade I, which has a mortality rate of 10%. He also said that the country has already had cases of monkeypox in 2022, when a new alert was issued; however, the cases belonged to clade II, which has a lower mortality rate, so it did not cause any deaths.
Alabi reiterated that as a health institution they are prepared to deal with possible cases of this disease, which already reports patients in Mexico and Argentina.
“I want to tell the Salvadoran population that we are doing everything necessary to ensure that the country has everything to treat this disease. We have the vaccine, which is given to people who have been in contact with a person who has had the disease. We have the laboratories where PCR tests are performed, which tell us whether or not patients have monkeypox. In El Salvador we have the capacity to treat this disease,” Alabi added.
There are currently no confirmed cases of this disease, but authorities are maintaining surveillance for early detection. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) have reiterated that, due to the characteristics of the disease, it is easily transmitted, but its mortality rates are still low.