In recent weeks, metropolitan GGDs have set up separate rooms where people can be tested for the monkey pox virus. Plans are ready at local level for further scaling up. Converting a corona test street is one of the options.
This is apparent from a BNR tour of a number of health services. The GGDs of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven now all have separate facilities with separate waiting areas where vaccinations are sometimes also offered. The GGD Region Utrecht does not have separate rooms, but it does have a separate consultation hour for monkey pox.
The health services are responding to an updated RIVM guideline at the end of May. It advises to limit contact with people who come to test to a minimum to prevent infections at locations. Medical staff and testers are also asked to wear a mask. A precautionary measure, says doctor-microbiologist Bert Mulder of the Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital in Nijmegen. According to Mulder, almost all cases in the Netherlands are spread through skin contact. “That’s not to say that precaution isn’t extremely sensible.”
Corona test street may have been redecorated for monkey pox
Looking ahead is important in fighting the outbreak, says medical microbiologist Matthijs Welkers of the Amsterdam UMC. ‘Everything depends on logistics’, says Welkers. ‘If the outbreak really gets much bigger and you miss testing capacity, you also miss a lot of new infections.’ Monkeypox testing is also more complex than testing for coronavirus, making it more difficult to meet the need. “With corona you only take a throat and nasal swab,” says Welkers. ‘Here you have to undress, look at lesions. You really need rooms. You also have to clean it completely before you move on to the next patient.’
The number of infections in the Netherlands is still very low. RIVM counted only 352 infections in the Netherlands yesterday. However, this number is increasing rapidly. According to the RIVM, testing is an important weapon in containing the virus. ‘The way to prevent the spread is to recognize quickly’, says Tjalling Leenstra, Center Head of the National Coordination of Infectious Disease Control at RIVM. ‘In this way you can advise patients to go into isolation and advise contacts to get vaccinated.’ Many GGDs already have plans ready to expand the test capacity if necessary. For example, the GGD Region Utrecht is looking at the redesign of a test street that was originally used for detecting the corona virus.
Most monkeypox infections took place in Amsterdam. At many other GGDs there has been little demand for tests so far, so the need for separate test rooms is not felt. For example, the GGD Hollands Midden works with home sampling. An employee of the GGD visits the possible patient at home to take a test. In The Hague, this approach is now experienced as too labour-intensive. According to the RIVM, the GGDs themselves determine how they set up their test facilities, but more patients must also be taken into account outside Amsterdam. ‘All GGDs must prepare for people with symptoms,’ says Leenstra.
Test policy back on the shovel soon
The RIVM has announced that the monkeypox outbreak is developing rapidly and that the policy will be adjusted where necessary. The advice on testing methods is also being looked at, says Leenstra. ‘We are constantly looking: what can we learn from this virus? On that basis, we continuously check whether the measures are effective.’
Infections are increasing
The rate at which the monkeypox virus is spreading in the Netherlands is increasing. The virus has so far been diagnosed in 352 people, reports the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Compared to last Thursday, 64 new cases have come to light. This increase is considerably larger than the increase in recent weeks.